Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has announced the official launch of the Accra Reset’s interim Secretariat in Ghana during a landmark address at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg. A statement from Ghana’s Presidency revealed that Obasanjo praised President John Dramani Mahama for his bold and transformative leadership in redefining global development cooperation.
Speaking on behalf of President Mahama, who leads the Accra Reset initiative, Obasanjo informed world leaders that the Global South-led platform has now broadened its Circle of Leaders. The group includes over two dozen former heads of state and prominent leaders of international organisations from Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the Caribbean.
Obasanjo conveyed President Mahama’s deep appreciation to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa for steering the G20 cycle with vision, courage, and a strong sense of justice. He also delivered warm greetings from Mahama, who previously served as an African Union Champion for Reparations.
According to Obasanjo, the Accra Reset marks a decisive shift away from long-standing development models built on dependency through aid and loans. He stressed that the future lies in rebuilding economies on the foundation of trade and investment rather than external dependency.
The initiative seeks to reimagine development cooperation as a framework that is “country-led, regionally empowered, and globally coherent,” moving past the top-down structures that have shaped North–South relations for decades.
The establishment of the interim Secretariat in Accra signals a key milestone for the initiative. President Mahama envisions it as a mechanism to ensure global governance reforms are “co-created, not imposed,” and advanced with fairness rather than dictated by historical power imbalances.
As part of this next phase, a High-Level Panel is being assembled to draft a major report on reforming global governance. The document will be presented to a commissioning authority made up of leaders from both the Global North and Global South.
Obasanjo commended South Africa’s G20 Presidency for advancing priorities aligned with the Accra Reset mission—such as fairer global financial systems, health resilience, equitable technology access, and expanded Global South inclusion in global decision-making.
He affirmed that the Accra Reset is prepared to collaborate closely with the G20, describing the initiative as a bridge connecting public, private, and civil sectors across the Global South.
Driven by President Mahama’s pragmatic approach, the Accra Reset aims to shift international development from lofty promises to practical models that deliver real, lasting transformation across the Global South.
