Buhari slams EU over lopsided deals with African countries, bemoans brain drain

President Muhammadu Buhari has criticised the European Union (EU) over what he said was its lopsided deals with African countries which had contributed to massive underdevelopment across the continent.

Buhari made this assertion on Friday through an article published on Politico, an online publication, titled, “It’s time for a new economic deal between the EU and Africa.”

According to the President, “when it comes to the relationship between the European Union and Africa, unfair arrangements have long been skated over for lack of alternatives.

“Increasingly unsustainable, these one-sided deals have provoked calls from both sides of the Mediterranean for a partnership of equals. At the EU-Africa Summit, leaders from across my continent will gather with their European counterparts to transform such rhetoric into substance.

“The EU is currently Africa’s largest trading partner, and Africa is the fastest-growing continent on earth. While each presents the other with great opportunities, as partners, we also share a host of problems. Today, the EU-Africa relationship must be shifted toward a new economic arrangement in order to address them.”

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Buhari also bemoaned the increasing brain drain of brilliant professionals from Africa into the EU, seeking better opportunities.

The President counseled that this challenge must be redressed by all stakeholders by “providing alternatives to the decision to take a life-threatening boat journey in order to seek them elsewhere.

“By 2050, Africa’s population of 1.3 billion is set to double, making up a quarter of the world’s total. My country, Nigeria, is set to double its population to 400 million by then, surpassing the United States to become the third-largest nation in the world. This means a huge youthful market right on Europe’s doorstep and — with increased trade — a growing middle class with money to spend.

“However, despite burgeoning possibility, irregular northward migration from my continent drains Africa’s talent pool, while provoking political crises in the EU. Despite its best efforts, Europe will not find a sustainable remedy to this problem by further reinforcing its Fortress Europe approach. Instead, more opportunities must be created for Africans at home, providing alternatives to the decision to take a life-threatening boat journey in order to seek them elsewhere.

“The relationship between the EU and Africa must be rebalanced to power job creation. Unfortunately, today’s arrangements do just the opposite.”

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