The Guests. |
Global
leaders at the second edition of United Bank for Africa (UBA) African Day Conversations
have emphasised the need for meaningful collaborations between governments and
the private sector as a panacea for the quick recovery of the economy of the
African continent post Covid-19.
The
leaders which included the President
of Liberia, H.E George Weah; United States Senator Chris Coons; the President
& Chairman of the Board of Directors of the African Export–Import Bank
(AFREXIMBANK), Professor Benedict Okey Oramah; President, International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Peter Maurer; President spoke on
Monday at the virtual Leadership Panel which was moderated by the Chairman, UBA
Plc, Tony Elumelu.
Other
leading voices who made up the panel were the Founder, Africa CEO Forum, Amir Ben Yahmed; the Secretary-General
of the African Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP), H.E George
Chikoti; Administrator, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Achim
Steiner and Donald Kaberuka.
While
moderating, Elumelu, who is also the Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation,
spoke on the need to mobilise everyone and explained the necessity to
discover a more fundamental solution to Africa’s challenges through collaborative
efforts.
“This
is the time for us to deal with the situation we have and also forge a better
situation for everyone, acting again collectively,” he said. “This is not the
time for finger pointing but for collaborative effort by governments and
organizations to fight the pandemic globally.”
Continuing,
Elumelu pointed out that all hands must be on deck if the African continent is
to have a quick recovery from the pandemic, adding “There is need to flatten
the curve, we need global co-operation to stem global depression. Africa
requires a large stimulus package, and we need long-term solutions to prevent a
cycle of debt.”
In
his submission, the Liberian President, George Weah, established how
collaborations worked in his government in an attempt to stem the sufferings brought
about the coronavirus pandemic.
“In
Liberia, we have taken measures to ease the financial burden on vulnerable
business in the informal sector by providing small loan assistance to SMEs and
traders. In addition, we are working with commercial banks to manage the
repayment of loans as well as to create stimulus packages for citizens.”
On
his part, US, Senator Chris Coons, said, "It is important to take a moment
to look at how African leaders have reacted to the pandemic. In order for us to
recover from this pandemic, we must develop a vaccine that is free and
affordable and freely distributed so that full economic activities can return.
There are ways we can invest in debt relief, invest in infrastructure and human
development. This is no time to be looking backwards. We recognise the power of
collective collaboration on the continent.
While
pointing out that the pandemic poses an opportunity for Africa to be
independent and promote its growth and development as a people without external
help; Prof. Benedict Okey Oramah, on his part, said COVID-19 has taught
Africa that there comes a time when every group of people will fend for
themselves.
He
called for the swift implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area
(AfCFTA) agreement, adding, “The priority of government should be to make sure
that the AfCFTA gets implemented without delay. If there was any doubt about
the importance of that agreement, this pandemic has told us that this is the
way to go.
Continuing,
Oramah said, "The pandemic has shown so many weaknesses we have across our
continent. We know that hunger is looming if we do not do anything. If we allow
hunger to take over from the COVID 19 pandemic, we will begin to see political
problems filling in. For Africa the problems go beyond health challenges to
other areas such as food supply. Hunger is looming and if action is not taken,
Africa will see political problem. Africa has become the epicenter of the
economic devastation that this pandemic has unleashed upon us.”
While
disclosing that Afrexim has made available $200million to supply fertilizers
and grains amongst others across Africa, the Afrexim boss added that “If Africa
allows hunger takeover the people, it will see an increase in insecurity, which
will take a long time to overcome.”
George
Chikoti of ACP, said that the huge task of economic recovery on the continent,
rests on both the government and the private sector. “The responsibility of
COVID-19 does not rest on the government alone, the private sector needs to
play a big role in lifting the burden of the pandemic. African governments need
to accept the support of the Private Sector in alleviating the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic in Africa,” he said.
"We
have been able to release $25m to all member states. One of the major
challenges is to make sure that in all countries, we have agricultural activity
and high productivity. What we should learn from the impact of this pandemic is
that the international community can look at how well they can fund all these
initiatives that come from our countries, Chikoti added.
Achim
Steiner of the UNDP noted that Digital connectivity is very essential as it is
a crucial opportunity to connect all schools across the continent, adding that
emphasis on Healthcare is also very important. “Digital connectivity is very
crucial to connect schools to the internet. We need to address inequality;
also, the virus has put a spotlight on Africa’s healthcare system.
Africa
needs to look at intermediate strategies like micro-insurance to ramp up this
sector.
Healthcare
has the ability to make a large percentage of the occupation fall into extreme
poverty.
“What
we need to look at is to find a way for government as a regulator and also as
an investor, to leverage private sector investment into these areas" Steiner
said.
Peter
Maurer, President, ICRC, said there is the need to look at pandemics as part of
a broader health system which needs stabilisation; A lot of vulnerable
populations in Africa have been heavily infected by the pandemic. "We must
do more than life-saving. This pandemic has illustrated the weakness of health,
water, sanitation and social systems, and we have to heavily invest into the
stabilization of these systems.
Throwing
more light on this, Maurer said, “Two things need to follow after live saving
during the pandemic. First, the pandemic has illustrated the weak situation of
health, water and food systems and we need to heavily invest both by the public
and private sectors to stabilize the health sector. Secondly, investment has
always gone into the more developed parts of Africa and not the fragile parts.
We need Private Public Partnerships and investments by multi-corporate
institutions to develop these areas’ he noted.
Amir
Yahmed said the crisis is going to be a super accelerator of already existing
trends. “We have to get away from the commodity driven model which has failed
in creating prosperity. Secondly, self-reliance should be one of the major
objectives. The pandemic is wake up call for Africa - Creating new streams of
revenue and self-reliance by the African continent”
“We
need to use this crisis to take Africa to the next level. This crisis is going
to be a super accelerator of already existing trends. I think it has to be a
wake-up call for us to attain goals we haven't reached. Create new revenues for
the economy. We also need to attain self-reliance. Self reliance is an
important goal. Africa manufactures [only] 2% of what it produces. We need to
use this crisis to take Africa to the next level. Invest in digital
infrastructure, digital education, agriculture is another opportunity we need
to grab. We need to get the AFCTA working,” Yamed said.
Donald
Kaberuka on his part opined that “What we need (for this crisis) is something
unusual, it is not business as usual. It is not marginal action, it is radical
action.”
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