D'banj speaks at US-African Summit, tasks leaders on poverty eradication

Award winning Nigerian artist, Dapo Oyebanjo, popularly called D’banj, has called on African leaders attending the US-African Summit to fight poverty in the continent.

Dbanj is attending the summit as an Ambassador for ONE. Org., an international, non partisan, non profit, advocacy and campaigning organization that fights extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa.

It also raises public awareness and pressure political leaders to support effective policies and programmes that are saving lives and improving futures.

Dbanj, who spoke in an interview with the American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) News in the US monitored in Abuja, advised African leaders to invest in agriculture to fight poverty.

“The reason I came to the summit is to tell African leaders to invest in agriculture because it is so key for us to know what we have.

“Agriculture has been seen to be the fastest way of eradicating poverty and creating jobs across Africa.

“For me, coming from Africa, it is so key for us to know what we have.

“When I was approached, 10 years ago at the start of this campaign, the African leaders called me and said 10 per cent of their annual budget will be for agriculture.

“By the end the campaign, we had one to two million African youths saying we want to support agriculture,

“For me, first of all, the theme of the summit is why we’re here. It’s investing in the next generation. I’m glad I’m privileged to be from the next generation,” he said.

Dbanj said most African youths through hard work and determination have excel in their chosen career, adding that `10 years ago’ with no record label and industry, he recorded success in the music industry.

“Because we believed in ourselves and what we had we continued and now the music industry is the biggest export from Africa after oil and gas,” he added.

When asked what he will tell President Barak Obama, he said: “I will just say that President Obama should please help us make sure that the African leaders, what they’re permitted in the summit, they implement it, because we have what it takes to unravel the wealth in Africa.”

(NAN)