Africans Must Keep Hope Alive – Kabiru Yusuf

In spite of the daunting challenges facing most countries in the African continent, citizens must learn to keep hope alive and encourage as well as reward hard work, chairman of Media Trust Limited (MTL), Malam Kabiru Yusuf has said. 

Delivering a welcome address at the 2015 Daily Trust African of the Year award dinner in Abuja yesterday, Malam Yusuf said all around the African continent, “there are honest and hard-working men and women, trying to make a difference,” and that where possible, they should be recognized and rewarded in order to encourage others.

He said that was the spirit behind the African of the Year Award instituted by Media Trust Limited seven years ago. The chairman said recent events in Egypt, South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, which are among the hopeful economies of Africa, indicated that “we are still in the woods.” 

While the government of General Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi is preparing to confront protesters on January 25 in Egypt over the gains and losses of the revolution that toppled the Hosni Mubarak government, he said, “in South Africa, a recent quick turn-over of three finance ministers pushed down the value of the Rand to an all-time low. Kenya, Kabiru said, is struggling to rebuild confidence in tourism, its biggest exchange earner, while in Nigeria, the Buhari administration said it inherited a “morally and materially vandalized” country. “However, we must continue to strive and also keep hope alive,” he said. 

On the African of the Year Award, he said the 2015 winner, “the little known Monsieur Gregoire Ahongbonon” was picked because of the way he rehabilitated and transformed thousands of under-privileged. 

“Our awardee has taken it upon himself to seek out such unfortunates and rehabilitate them. Thousands have been taken off the streets and returned to normal life. It is not work for the faint-hearted, but it clearly needs to be done,” he said. 

The Daily Trust African of the Year is chosen by a Pan-African committee to celebrate an ordinary Africans whose work has impact beyond where they live, he said.