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Uganda President, Museveni Blasts Western Countries, Says ‘You Fund Seminars But Won’t Aid Manufacturing In Africa

President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda took a bold swipe at world leaders during his speech at the World Bank’s International Development Association summit for African Heads of state, held in Nairobi, Kenya, on Tuesday.
In his remarks, Museveni opined that most of Africa’s problems predicted over 60 years ago were a result of philosophical, ideological, and strategic economic mistakes.
He alleged that a fundamental African problem is that aid from the World Bank and other Western bodies was majorly for profiteering.
“The crisis which is in Africa today is because of philosophical, ideological, and strategic economic mistakes which we have been talking about since the 1960s. It is not an accident when you see the crisis in many African countries, the collapse of States. We predicted this in the 1960s – philosophical, ideological, and strategic mistakes. I don’t have time to amplify each one but I was very happy to hear the president of the World Bank talking about prosperity instead of profiteering.
“Aid has been for profiteering, this has been the problem. Now, the World Bank people and other groups have been talking about sustainable development. Even in your documents, I have seen those words there, sustainable development”, Museveni stated.
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He argued that what Africa needed to thrive as a continent was not sustainable development as always suggested by the World Bank, and other key players in economic development, but social and economic transformation.
He urged the World Bank and world leaders to quit pushing sustainable development as a key factor in achieving a more developed African continent.
“I would ask you to change those words in your documents. Africa does not need what you could call sustainable development. Africa needs social and economic transformation. The main reason why there’s no growth is because the growth factors are not funded, they are not even understood. What are the growth factors, we now talk of private sector growth. Yes, but for the private sector to grow what does it need? It needs a low cost of production”, he said.
In his opinion, the main reason Africa remains underdeveloped is because the growth factors are not funded and they are not understood by the Western world.
He added that for Africa to be more developed and independent, the private sector needs funding. According to him, adequate funding for the transportation, power and agricultural sectors will boost low production costs.
“Ministers of finance, what are the low costs of production? Number one is transport. You must have low transport costs. Where do low transport costs come from? The railway? If you don’t fund the railway how will you get low transport costs?
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“Wonderful people, IMF, where will low-cost operations come from if you don’t have a railway? If you don’t fund the railway, how would you get low transport costs? I have been here for the last 64 years, I have been watching as a student leader, as a freedom fighter and now as the leader of a country. How many railways have been constructed or funded in Africa? The few that have been was by China, the Tanzanian railway to Zambia, and recently, another one here in Kenya. Tanzania on their own is building a railway line. So if you’re talking of developing Africa, fund the railway. If you fund the railway, you will have a low cost of transport and you can produce cheap products which can be bought all over the world.
“The second cost pusher is electricity. If you don’t fund electricity and you talk about sustainable development, what are you then talking about? We must have low-cost electricity not exceeding 5 cents per kilowatts, per hour. That is what I insist on in Uganda. I am tired of all these stories, I have put my foot down saying I don’t want to hear those stories. Uganda is a developing country and it will continue to develop because I don’t entertain nonsense anymore.”
Speaking further, Museveni who has ruled Uganda for over 40 years accused the World Bank and Western leaders of refusing to lend him money for capital projects such as the establishment of the Uganda Development Bank.
He lamented the rate at which loans are promptly approved and grated for frivolities but not for serious projects that would yield economic gains.
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He said, “Borrowing, for what? Capacity building! Imagine! They call you to a hotel where you eat Chapati and mandazi, and they say that is capacity building. Capacity building should be on the ground and not just in seminars. So, the second point your Excellencies is electricity. The third one; is for those people who talk about private sector growth, I have been trying to borrow money for our Uganda Development Bank, a bank which funds manufacturers, but no, I don’t get support for that.
“They say they want my people to go to commercial banks. Those commercial banks are to encourage import because the only person who can borrow money from a commercial bank and pay it back is a trader who goes to China, Dubai buys goods, sells them quickly and pays the loan back. So, if you are serious, I need it here, about the low-cost funding for manufacturing, not stories.”
“How about funding for irrigation? Because if you want to stabilise agriculture, a country like Uganda is very rich, we have got everything. But sometimes, we have some erraticness because of the rains. So, to stabilise irrigation I’ve been trying to look for a loan for irrigation but I can’t easily get it, it is very difficult to get. But a loan for seminars is very quick.”
PUNCH
News
Boko Haram Once Nominated Muhammadu Buhari As Negotiator – Jonathan Revealed

Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday, disclosed that Boko Haram insurgents once nominated the late ex-President Muhammadu Buhari as their negotiator.
Jonathan said Boko Haram chose Buhari to negotiate with the Nigerian government on their behalf.
He made the disclosure while speaking at the public presentation of Scars, a book authored by former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor (retd.), in Abuja.
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Jonathan said the insurgents named Buhari after his then-administration set up several committees to explore dialogue with the group.
Jonathan said: “One of the committees we set up then, the Boko Haram nominated Buhari to lead their team to negotiate with the government.
“So I was feeling that, oh, if they nominated Buhari to represent them and had a discussion with the government committee, then when Buhari took over, it could have been an easy way to negotiate with them and they would have handed over their guns. But it was still there till today.”
Jonathan noted that the inability of Buhari to eradicate Boko Haram terrorists showed that the crisis was more complex than often portrayed.
News
Edo: Pandemonium As NDLEA Operatives Chase Escaping Driver With Shooting

There was pandemonium at Oka Market, Upper Sakponba Road, Benin City, Friday, as operatives of the State Command of Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) shot sporadically in chase of an escaping driver.
In the course of the commotion, traders and residents took to their heels, probably to avoid being hit by stray bullets, while others were confused, not sure of what caused the sporadic gunshots.
The sporadic gunshots which lasted more than five minutes at the gate of the NDLEA Head Office, by Oka Market, followed a hot chase of an articulated vehicle driver who was said to have brushed their (NDLEA) vehicle.
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The driver, who reportedly brushed the NDLEA vehicle refused to stop for negation, which prompted officers at the scene to alert their colleagues who waited at the alert.
According to eyewitnesses, as the escaping articulated driver approached the NDLEA office, officers who were said to have been alerted by their colleagues pursuing the trailer began to shoot.
Seven of the tyres of the trailer were deflated by bullets of the NDLEA operatives yet the driver refused to stop.
The officers continued to shoot while pursuing him, until he was caught.
READ ALSO:NDLEA Destroys Over 18,000 KG Of Cannabis In Edo Forest
A source said that the driver brushed their vehicle on the way, and that every effort by the officers to stop him so they could settle the matter proved abortive; hence the gunshots and deflation of the tires.
“It was a simple thing; they jammed our men, but the officers tried to stop him so that they could settle, but the driver refused to stop. That is why the men have been shooting to stop him. Even after bursting about seven tires, he was still running, but we caught him and they are bringing him back to our office,” he concluded.
Calls and messages sent to the commander, Edo State NDLEA Command, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju, were not responded to as at when filing this.
News
JUST IN: Court Bars Police From Enforcing Tinted Glass Regulation

The Federal High Court sitting in Warri has issued an order directing the Nigeria Police Force and the Inspector-General of Police to maintain the status quo in the ongoing case concerning the controversial tinted glass permit.
The case, Suit No. FHC/WR/CS/103/2025: John Aikpokpo-Martins v. Inspector-General of Police & Nigeria Police Force, came up for hearing today.
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Delivering the interim order, the Court directed the police authorities to respect judicial processes pending further proceedings in the matter.
Confirming the development, Kunle Edun, SAN, who led the legal team, noted that the directive is a major step in ensuring that the rule of law is upheld while the substantive issues in the case are being determined.
Details of the ruling and the next adjourned date are expected shortly.
Further updates coming soon…
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