The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Africa Group, has outlined activities to mark this year’s 2025 African week celebration, an event aimed at promoting unity and cooperation among African countries.
The event, which has been held annually since 2023, aims to promote African unity and cooperation between the continent and other nations of the world.
The founder of the international Bio- resources institute and convener of the African week Professor Edmund Ugwu Agbo during a press briefing on emphasised the importance of celebrating African culture and promoting cooperation between Africa and other nations.
Prof. Agbo emphasised the importance of African unity and cooperation, stating that “Africa is the mother of the world, being the oldest continent. Everybody looks up to Africa, but we Africans don’t know how richly endowed we are with human and material resources.”
According to him, The African Week has come to stay, and instead of celebrating European days in Africa, we should be celebrating Africa. We propose to celebrate Africa in Africa, shifting the celebration from country to country each year.
He said the international Bioresearch Institute has been the sponsor of the African Week, and it would be challenging to sponsor it in another country.
“However we are open to the idea of hosting it in different countries in the future
“We decided to hold the first day in Nigeria because of its large population, which is almost half of the population of the continent. We also considered the fact that Nigeria is a central location in West Africa”, he said.
Professor Agbo also went further to explain that the Organisation of African Unity was formed so that Africa would start to think for itself and its continent.
Adding that in 2002, it changed its name to the African Union. UNESCO proclaimed May 25th as Africa Day, a day to celebrate Africa by Africans and non-Africans.
Prof. Agbo also highlighted the need for Africa to take control of its own destiny, rather than relying on external forces.
“Africa is the mother of the world, being the oldest continent. Everybody looks up to Africa, but we Africans don’t know how richly endowed we are with human and material resources,”
“Africa Week is a UNESCO flagship program celebrating African culture, African life in general, and all aspects of African society. It creates a forum for Africans to come together, review their fate, and project into the future. It’s a time for rumination, deliberation, cooperation, and reopening a new dimension of cooperation with the African continent”, he said.
Agbo noted that the first day of the African Week will be held at the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja, from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on May 31st, focusing on dialogue and discussion rather than festivities.
“We have representatives from various quarters, including governmental agencies, academia, labor unions, cultural groups, and religious groups. When we talk about cooperation, one of the oldest forms of cooperation is cultural and religious.
