Ambassador Robin Sanders & General Kip Ward: Africa Podcast: Security, US-Africa Relations & US-Africa-China

 As part of the podcast series " The General and the Ambassador," produced by the prestigious American Academy of Diplomacy, with the support of the University of North Carolina Global Affairs, Chapel Hill, Ambassador Robin Renee Sanders and General Kip Ward, outline for the audience a range of US-Africa issues including but not limited to encouraging Americans to both understand and appreciate the importance of the US-Africa relationship. This includes ensuring the continent's key partnership in U.S. national security and fighting terrorism and extremism in the region; its role in the U.S. economic prosperity as Africa is home to the world's largest next generation of economic, political and innovators leaders. Ambassador Sanders and General Ward bring their respective views to the podcast as to how the US can better manage what is being referred to today as the "Great Powers Competition," (GPC) between the US and China, and how Africa see this issue and the region's desire to have a relationship and partnership with the US above and beyond the GPC.  Scroll below to see flyer and topic highlights from the podcast and click on this link Ambassador Sanders' and General Ward's Podcast to hear the Ambassador and the General discuss current key US-Africa issues: 

The General and the Ambassador The US and West Africa: Opportunities and Dangers with Ambassador Robin Sanders and General Kip Ward  Key topics: The Opportunities - markets, youth bulge and UN votes The Dangers - political instability, sharply rising violence from criminal networks and extremist groups The US Africa Command and US Assistance programs  Implications of the withdrawal of the French military Great power competition on the continent.  Click and Listen Here! Subscribe!

Ambassador Robin Sanders was the US Ambassador to Nigeria (2007-2010) and to Congo (2003-2005).  She also served as the Permanent Representative to ECOWAS, Director for Africa at the NSC and Deputy Commandant of the NDU Eisenhower College. She is the CEO of FEEEDS and FE3DS, focusing on Africa. ----------------------------------------------------- A FEEEDS Series blogspot General Ward was the Commander of US Africa Command (2007-2011). Just prior, he was Deputy Commander, US European Command. His other assignments include Somalia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Egypt and the Joint Staff.  Currently, he is the President of the Sentel Corporation.

Legend, Legacy, and Lifetime of Service: What Nelson Mandela Meant to Africa

See Ambassador Sanders, CEO of FEEEDS, on Al Jazeera America talking about the Life and Legacy of Nelson Mandela as he moves on to be with the ancestors

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/live-news/2013/12/nelson-mandela-slegacytoacontinent.html

Africa @ the Crossroads: Things are Changing, but Challenges Remain

Africa at the Crossroads  Technology and global political pressure have changed the landscape of African activism and youth-led change are on the rise. Joining Insight to discuss how Africa's youth is changing the continent is former US ambassador to Nigeria, Robin Renee Sanders. She is delivering the keynote address Friday at Sacramento State University's 21st Annual African/African Diaspora Conference: Africa at the Crossroads: Revolution, Democracy, Youth empowerment, Social media and Non-Violence.

click here to listen to NPR interview w/Ambassador Sanders in Sacremento http://archive.org/download/Insight_120426/Insight_120426c.mp3 or

download link

Nigeria's Role In Africa Over the Next 50 Years

2010 World Summit of Mayors, Nigeria, December 2010



What is Nigeria's Role in Africa Over the Next 50 Years?

Nigeria – a nation of plenty, a nation of potential, and nation of prospects. These are the key pillars that the next 50 years should bring to fruition for this great country. As an African-American who sees Nigeria as one of the most important global nations in the world today, it is important for Nigeria, with the support and encouragement from its friends, to enter the next half century with the goal of improving the daily lives of each Nigerian citizen. This includes having a safe enabling environment not only for economic growth and development, but also to further ensure its rightful place as a leader in the sub region on peace and security issues. Nigerians, and their friends, see the struggles that this great nation faces today with instability being renewed in the Delta, ethnic tensions in parts of the North, corruption issues, and concerns about a successful, and transparent election looming large for April 2011.

None of these issues should be taken lightly, they are real, cause uncertainty, and are challenges that must be addressed in a transparent manner to set the stage not only for Nigeria in the next 50 years, but also for the African Continent writ large. The nation of Nigeria and the people I have had the pleasure of working with and knowing have always made me proud to be connected to a country with such great potential and prospects. Nigeria is a symbol for many African-Americans in so many positive ways – the creativeness, the talent, and the strong love of country - to name a few of the core values that I experienced living in Nigeria. This viewpoint does not mean that we are not rooting for Nigeria to be even more than it is today and that it must continue to work to ensure that the challenges of today mentioned above are addressed and are not markers of the future. I was asked about the role of Nigeria in the future of Africa over the next 50 years given that Nigeria and 17 other nations celebrated their jubilee anniversary in
2010. There are several very important points to make in this regard:

Leadership by far is Nigeria’s first role on the Continent as it is a key political, security, and trading partner in the sub-region and with other world nations. However, with this, it has to continue to find ways to better address its own internal security and corruption issues as part of this leadership and make transparent elections and good governance the order of the day;

Nigeria’s Development role is next, particularly, as Nigeria and the rest of Africa should be the next emerging frontiers for economic growth, markets, and trade. The recent positive news in some quarters of Nigeria’s macro-economic and capital market reforms efforts spurred by the leadership at Nigeria’s Central Bank and at its Security and Exchange Commission are symbolic of the solid foundations that countries in Africa need to be moving toward over the next 50 years. The issues of most concern to me are what I have called the FEEEDS™ issues (with the acronym meaning Food Security, Education, Environment, Energy, Development/Democracy and Self-Help). The FEEEDS™ issues will need to be better handled over the next 50 years by all nations on the Continent;

Nigeria’s Youth and Women need to be included and play a key role in the direction of the country. Given that more than half of Nigeria’s population is under the age of 35 coupled with having nearly 74 million women, both youth and women need to be provided with not only ample but more adequate educational opportunities (including vocational and entrepreneurship training) as they are vital to a viable future for any nation. No nation can develop by excluding more than half its population from a strong and visible role in political development, and social sector reform; and,

Transparency in Resource Management which is not only cross sectoral but also a synergistic way of better addressing how all resources -- energy resources, land and water resources, human resources, and financial resources - - in a country are governed.

None of us has a crystal ball, and none of us can predict the future. What we can do is our utmost to put in place the things that we know can help make the future a better place. Nigeria, as the most populated nation on the Continent and because of the core values I know are part of the Nigerian mosaic, can and should help set the stage for the future of the Africa Region and the global community, but addressing the four points above are key parts of achieving these goals. Many of us as African-Americans are counting on that. I know I am.

Nigeria’s Youth Discuss Country's 2011 Elections & Development

This blogspot is part of the series: The Road to Nigeria's 2011 Elections

Nigerian Youth 18 and older must believe in the future of their country, and believe in the nation’s elections process. This was the message on World Youth Day August 12, 2010, in Abuja, as youth gathered in different venues around the country to take stock of their role in the future of Nigeria. On the heels of returning from President Obama's African Young Leaders Forum (AYLF), the three Nigerian participants - Taiwo, Ruth and Bako - joined me on World Youth Day to discuss the Nigerian 2011 elections to encourage young Nigerians to take part in the development of their country on the FEEEDS™ pillars (Food Security, Education, Environment-Energy, Economics, Democracy, and Self-Help - http://blogitrrs.blogspot.com/p/feeeds.html) which starts first with participation in and belief in the election process.

Many of the 70 young people 18-35 years, who gathered for the discussion, noted their concern about fraud and vote rigging and wanting their votes and their voices to make a difference and count. Many recounted their past experience as voters in Nigeria’s 2007 election when they believed their votes did not count, and wanted to know what would be different in 2011. Nigeria today has nearly 45 million young people with estimates that by 2025 that number will reach 62 million (http://www.prb.org/).

The three Obama AYLF participants, in discussing the importance of the FEEEDS™ pillars, stressed that the 2011 election is where young Nigerians must start to change the path of the nation by voting for leaders who put the nation first over self interest. The Food security, Education, Democracy and Self-help aspects of FEEEDs™ where highlighted as the first steps in building a Nigeria that provides access to basic education for all (primary schools have a deficit of girls 10-14 years) and adequate and available food. In addition, the sheer size of Nigeria’s population (152 million, with a current growth rate of 2.5 %) makes the emphasis on entrepreneurial discovery the route that many Nigerian youth must take not only to secure their futures, but also because entrepreneurship can provide a vehicle to give something back to the nation on FEEEDS™.

Obama AYLF participants Taiwo, Bako, and Ruth outlined their backgrounds and how each used their entrepreneurial skills to address one of the FEEED™ pillars. Ruth focuses on education (particularly for girls), Taiwo on the environment (with his waste management company), and Bako’s Foundation also emphasizes education and poverty alleviation. The outcome of the Youth Leadership Discussion on the 2011 election was that Nigerian Youth must begin to believe that their votes will not only count, but be counted freely and fairly. The deliverable from the roundtable held at the Abuja Ken Namani Leadership Center was a message for the Government of Nigeria and the Independent National Election Commission (INEC): Make the 2011 election a time to show Nigeria’s Youth that their forthright desire to be heard and have a credible and issue-oriented election will become the order of the day.


The Deliverable: The Youth Discussion Group decided to deliver a white paper to the Government on the importance of the role of Youth in the 2011 election.

Africa's Future Rest With Next Generation: Addressing the FEEEDS™ Issues

This week President Obama hosted a landmark event to celebrate the future of Africa -- a Continent that will have a population of over 1.5 billion in the next several years. He met with Africa's next generation of leaders in a unique forum -- Africa Young Leaders' Forum -- that brought together 115 young African men and women, from 40 countries, embarking on making a difference in their communities...in their nations... by focusing on the importance of transparent election, good leadership, creating new businesses, and developing initiatives to address Food security, Education, the Environment, Economics, Democracy and Self-help, or what I like to call the FEEEDS™ issues, an acronym representing these key global issues. The FEEEDS™ issues are ones that all developing countries should address in order to move their nation forward. In Africa particularly, there is a current downward trajectory on the FEEEDS™ issues in many countries; this needs to change and new paradigms need to be developed. The Obama Administration is doing this with signatures initiatives on food secuirty and the environment.

In 2010, 17 African nations will celebrate 50 years of independence -- a half century -- and it is time to take stock of what the next 50's years will look like. Who better than the Obama Administration than to have that discussion with the next generation of leaders? This is what the Obama Administration was bold enough and wise enough to do! So to those who saw the Forum differently -- you missed the point! Yes there's a need to put down markers with current leaders not doing right by their people, but the larger point is to build bridges with Africa's next generation. (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/world/africa/06forum.html?emc=eta1)

Recently, the U.S. has been engaged in Africa in an unprecedented manner with signature initiatives that focus on the FEEEDS™ issues with the President working with African leaders to help move their nations forward. Why discuss Africa's future with future leaders? Because more than half the Continent is home to people under the age of 25 right now! Because the future for change on the FEEED™S issues rest with them! And, because Africa's future strength can make America stronger as we forge partnerships and strategic relationships on global issues from development, human rights, and nuclear cooperation.

Democratic change in Africa is important. Look at the positive outcome of the Kenya referendum this week when violence marred the previous election. We cannot afford not to engage, and certainly we cannot ignore the generation in Africa that will be America's partners in the future. Our behavior during the immediate post-Cold War years should have taught us all that! As an example, for Nigeria's future, the USG has established a Bi-National Commission (BNC) focused on many of the FEEEDS™ issues addressed at the Obama Africa Forum. We are focusing on Nigeria's democracy and providing technical support for their Must-do Right critical elections in 2011. The BNC's Governance, Transparency, and Integrity group has met twice with the next session August 24-25 in Abuja, Nigeria, on Nigeria's elections. The BNC Energy and Investment group met in August. Next up: The three young Nigerians who participated in President Obama's Forum will discuss their views on the FEEEDS™ issues in an U.S.-Embassy supported roundtable in Abuja, Nigeria on August 12. We will be looking to hear from them on how they plan to engage the Nigerian Government.