Friends of Africa Consortium

We thus began to write papers, hold meetings, write/meet some African High Commissioners/Ambassadors; a total of 16 of them. And they all expressed satisfaction with the vision. We can remember only one of them saying that “the idea is good but are you aware of NEPAD” which is a creation of African Union? Besides the diplomats, some African leaders knew what was going on. And finally on the day of the launch on 20 May 2006 a delegation of Nigeria High Commission was present. Kenya High Commissioner was going to attend personally but for the last minute change of Venue from Imperial College, South Kensington to West Indian Cultural Centre in Hornsey London, due to lack of funding. Nevertheless the launch went on successfully.

So in generality the vision has been approved and endorsed at least tacitly by a good number of African governments. And this green light go ahead has been one of the bedrocks of our tenacity of purpose, amid, many odds. The chief of them being lack of funding.  

All along, our funding has come from voluntary donations from members and a few individuals and massive borrowing from the membership.  The accompanying account only shows what we decide to record for statistical purposes. A lot of petty spendings was not recorded or claimed. However, we have got to a stage now where we need to move up into higher gears. We are fully convinced we’ve done a good job, shown enough fortitude, focus and commitment, accountability and above all discipline. And we will couple all that with a galaxy of ideas. We now say to all friends of Africa, be it by descent or choice to give us the tools to do the job. And the tools are MONEY and SUPPORT. 

Our objectives and how to achieve them are clearly stated in The Document. We cannot be especially specific at this stage as we will ask for funding project by project.  See later part of this paper. But corruption is regarded as the biggest beast to be ferociously fought and conquered because it makes good governance impossible, destroys initiative and sense of nationhood; for the reason that everybody is only interested in “what is in it for me”, self interest. You can not build (develop) a nation with that kind of mindset. This mindset is reflected in various manipulations of democratic and political processes; never in the interest of the masses. We regard it as the greatest hurdle we need to clear with systemic design.

Our unique position of being comfortable and at home on the two sides of the divide gives us an unrivalled advantage to build bridges that will bring mutual benefits to both Africa and the developed world. While we are not gloating over or celebrating the passing of similar Charities or NGO’S our resilience has been bolstered by their lack of tenacity of purpose.

Finally on this segment of this paper we talk about GLOBALISATION which is a new world order, but not yet fully comprehended by many a wise man and a wise woman. It is more than a company or a business taking their trade from one hemisphere to another. Or a shop opening in all countries of the world.

What affects one part of the globe will affect the others from now on. How can we have one world where a part of it is living in unbridled opulence while other parts are living in sub-human standard? How can we live in the same one world where some parts of it waste resources while other parts live in scarcity? How can we live in the same world (nation) where all odds are stacked up against some people?

We know that a new, better and fairer world is going to evolve through GLOBALISATION.

Part of the new world order is the Committee of Patrons we are setting up for this Charity. We are approaching people of calling to take part in the shaping of Africa. They will be people who will joyfully and willingly get involved in the development of Africa, but working behind the scene while Africans, both at home and abroad tackle their challenges. We give you an excerpt from The Document. “There is no amount of money thrown to Africa, without the developed world saying to the developing Africa, look, we will climb down to your level, possibly in Wellington boots and start to work our way up, things may not happen as expected”. The setting up of COP is the actualisation of that statement. So those who might have read that clause and thought that we were asking the ex-colonial rulers to come back are wrong-headed. Problems of Africa can only be solved by the Africans because Africans are the problems, but being open to foreign assistance is no drawback!

We will want the patrons to fund us and help us raise fund and argue our case at high levels and on the international scene. Part of their involvement will be their delight in overseeing our activities, though The Management Board of the Charity is the highest authority. This is a component of what we call systemic design. For the first time aids going to Africa will have project by project report presented, not just donating a lump sum of money for the development of Africa and after the cheque has been signed and given to the recipients the benefactor has no access to the process of implementation. We will render detailed project by project analytical report. Transparency is our watchword. The Committee will not have to come together for meetings too often if at all - leave that to systemic design.

Our immediate need is to defray our debts, open and furnish a small London Office just for now. We are taking a stand at the up-coming Expo Nigeria 2007 (19 & 20 October) to begin to get the message across to Nigeria where we will be launching the first of the operating organs in Africa later this year. Our website needs to be upgraded and maintained. And we need to have our normal routine expenditures met, this includes the preparation and the launch of ION B Nigeria, as we have just said.

In concluding we must explain the reason why we have travelled slowly on this road. When the vision came up we had no example to learn or copy from and no funding. So every stage has got to be worked out, tested and sold to the sceptical world. And from all that has been said both in this paper and The Document, we are now confident we had a realistic and realisable dream. Much more we are now fully geared up to help those passionate friends of Africa to realise their long-standing dream of contributing to the development of the continent. For this development to take place the masses need to be enlightened and empowered to get rich. This is different from being able to read and write! Are not the well educated people bleeding the continent to its death? They are the people who will read things sinister into this mission but watch them go into collusion with foreign exploiters just for their own self interest. The Organisation is a charity and there is no shady dimension to that. We are doing it all for nothing in the interest of the down trodden.

I think we have made a good case. We now just want you our patrons to give us the tools to do the job, all in the interest of humanity. And if we don’t do it to your satisfaction sack us. But our quip to you is “Can you sack somebody or an Organisation you have not tried?”

So we shall be grateful for your generous funding and whole-hearted backing. Please make cheques payable to Friends of Africa Consortium and send it to the address at the top of the first page. Thank you in anticipation.