President of the newly established African School of Governance (ASG), Kingsley Moghalu, has urged former African presidents to be more active in providing value in governance and development across the continent.
Moghalu, who stated this on his X handle, said while former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan have added much value to Africa and the world since leaving office, many have not been active inside or outside their countries.
The former Central Bank Deputy Governor however said African post-presidency needs to be honest, systematised and structured.
Moghalu’s advocacy comes barely days after Jimmy Carter passed on, a former United State president who made more global impact after his one term as president through his campaign for human rights, democracy and improved conditions of living.
Carter’s out-of-office engagements followed a pattern in the United States where ex-president’s established foundations through which they remain active.
However, underscoring the need for former African presidents to be much more engaged in proffering solutions to problems, Moghalu said, “One of the lessons in leadership African leaders have broadly yet to learn is that there is life after office.
“There is so much African heads of government can offer with lessons of their time in office, whether they were successful or failed leaders, or somewhere in between.
“But this will require honest reflection on their part. While a few, such as Olusegun Obasanjo and @GEJonathan of Nigeria and @HMDessalegn of Ethiopia, have added much value to Africa and the world since leaving office, many have not been active inside or outside their countries.
“Especially, there has not been as much historical documentation of their time in office and how they dealt with the challenges of those times as there should be. The African post-presidency needs to be increasingly systematised and structured,” he said.
