Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo delivered a landmark address at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg, announcing the launch of the Accra Reset’s interim Secretariat in Ghana and spotlighting President John Dramani Mahama’s transformative leadership in global development cooperation.
Speaking on behalf of President Mahama, the driving force behind the Accra Reset, Obasanjo informed world leaders that the Global South-anchored platform has grown its Circle of Leaders to encompass over two dozen former Heads of State and international organisation leaders spanning Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the Caribbean.
“President Mahama extends his deep appreciation to H.E. President Cyril Ramaphosa, whose leadership has guided this G20 cycle with clarity, courage, and a profound commitment to justice,” Obasanjo said, conveying greetings from the Ghanaian President and African Union Champion for Reparations.
Obasanjo described the Accra Reset as a paradigm shift in development, moving away from “an economy of dependency” fostered by traditional aid and loans. “To move forward, we must re-architect our economies based on trade and investment,” he asserted.
He stressed that the initiative seeks to transform development cooperation into a system that is “country-led, regionally empowered, and globally coherent,” breaking with decades of top-down North-South dynamics.
The establishment of the Secretariat in Accra marks a new era for the initiative, which President Mahama envisions as a means to ensure that global governance reforms are “co-created, not imposed; negotiated with fairness, not inherited from history.”
A High-Level Panel will soon prepare a landmark report on restructuring global governance, to be delivered to a commissioning authority of Heads of State representing both the Global North and Global South.
Obasanjo also lauded South Africa’s G20 Presidency under President Ramaphosa for championing priorities that resonate with the Accra Reset’s mission—including a fairer global financial system, enhanced global health resilience, equitable technology partnerships, and broader Global South involvement in multilateral decision-making.
“The Accra Reset stands ready to work closely with the G20,” Obasanjo affirmed, positioning the platform as “connective tissue interlinking the public, private, and civil factions of Global South societies.”
The initiative aims to move international development from “endless aspirational targets to workable business models that drive real and durable change,” embodying President Mahama’s pragmatic vision for economic transformation across the Global South.
Source: Apexnewsgh.com
