As the curtain fell on the 7th Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa  (PIDA) Week taking place in Nairobi, KTN's Laban Cliff  held an interview with Dr. Ibrahim Mayaki, CEO of  the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD whose term at the agency comes to an end later this year.
 

LC: Thank you so much for speaking with us on KTN NEWS. Dr Mayaki, looking back at your tenure , what are some of the reflections and milestones and proud moments that will remind you of the efforts that you and your team put into solidifying and strengthening AUDA-NEPAD?  

IM: Thank you very much for the question, there are three issues I will  focus on:

The first being on African institutions which generally tend to be weakened along the years. The strengthening of NEPAD from being a Secretariat to an African Union continental development agency was due to the support from the AU Member States, our governance structure which is the NEPAD Steering Committee and the NEPAD Heads of States and Government Orientation Committee. The transformation was a big achievement for all of us and the support of the African Union was also invaluable

Secondly, we developed strategic continental frameworks, one in agriculture (CAADP) and the other in infrastructure (PIDA) which both led to a paradigm shift in the way the continent would look at agriculture and infrastructure development. In agriculture, we moved towards making theagricultural sector dynamic and taking into account small scale farmers- that was a huge change from the approach that the multi-lateral institutions were proposing. In infrastructure, we shifted the thinking from nationally connected projects to regionally connected projects with the concept of corridor development and this has transformed the geography of the continent.

Thirdly, the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD has brought together highly specialized experts from across the continent, and this has been beneficial as it has become a think-tank hub that can focus on programme implementation.

LC: What are some of your personal reflections as a leader and what are some of the moments you are proud of?

IM:  A leader is fundamentally a servant, to serve in this case, the continent. So, a leader needs to connect with the ordinary citizen. A leader should self-reflect by asking him/herself: “ Taking into consideration the size of institution I am leading, is what I am doing useful to the ordinary African?  If a leader can respond positively to this  question , it means he/she is on the right path and will be more tranquil in his/her role.

LC: Lastly, what is your advice towards fellow leaders, your advice to African governments to support these large-scale infrastructure projects

IM:  African governments and Regional Economic Communities are already part of the NEPAD Agenda, and this was evident in the high attendance of PIDA Week. You witnessed the motivation of the leaders who spoke and you also saw the quality of projects which were showcased, so, this is evidence that we are on the right track. The crucial part is now about acceleration and acceleration.