He stated that by priotising youth empowerment and job
creation, they will be able to improve standard of living in the continent and
address the challenge of unemployment.
Also, the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation
(WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, reiterated her call for the restructuring of
debts owed by African countries to enable them to provide economic stimulus for
their economies and accelerate recovery from COVID-19 devastitations.
They both spoke at the UBA Africa Day Conversation 2021,
which held via a virtual platform.
The forum also featured President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, the
Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus
and the Managing Director of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Mr.
Makhtar Diop.
The conversation was moderated by Elumelu.
Elumelu, who is also the Chairman of Heirs Holdings, said
the third UBA Africa Conversations was dedicated to discuss pressing issues
facing the continent, its people and young population.
He said: “The priority for Africa is the empowerment of its
youths and ensuring the creation of jobs and economic opportunities even during
very difficult times.
“We have seen how our young ones despite COVID-19 leveraged
their talents, expertise and technology to create wealth and support the
communities they live in.
“We must, therefore, ensure that these young ones are made
and not erased. We must create an enabling environment for our young
entrepreneurs to succeed and empower them to create the jobs that would lift
the continent to prosperity.”
In her presentation, Okonjo-Iweala said Africa’s economies
required short-term policies that would enable them to get more fiscal
stimulus.
She said: “So, if we want to recover, it is important to
discuss about restructuring debt and giving African economies fiscal space to
breathe so that they can invest not only on the health side but also on the
economic side. This is how we are going to recover.
“The good news is that all our presidents like President
Kagame have been pushing for this issuance of new Special Drawing Rights (SDR)
at the International Monetary Fund, which agreed to provide $650 billion.
Africa would get $34 billion but more may be allocated. We can use this to help
implement more fiscal stimulus so that our economies can have the ability to
recover.
“Moreover, some liquidity should go to the private sector.
You know that in rich countries, private sector has gotten access to credit and
liquidities that enabled their Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to recover.”
She added: “Our youth is what we have; youth is gold to us
and we can mobilise our youth productively to try to recover from this
pandemic. I’m very proud the continent has done so far in coming together,
especially our leaders who are trying to build a one Africa approach by
building the vaccine acquisition group, by building a medical supply platform,
bring together the COVID-19 envoys, which I was privileged to be part of and
also by supporting CDC.
“If we are to recover sustainably, from this crisis, we have
to correct the vaccine inequity that is so evident in the world today. The fact
that we have vaccinated so little of our population is not acceptable. And the
fact that we import 99 per cent of our vaccines and 90 per cent of our
pharmaceuticals is not acceptable.
“The IMF just did an interesting study where they showed
that if we spent $50 billion additional to vaccinate 40 per cent of the world’s
population by 2021 and another up to 60 per cent in 2022, we would be able to
reverse this vaccine inequity and the world can actually gain $9 trillion by
2025. I mean the numbers are staggering when you compare $50 billion to $9
trillion, we can make if we did this right.
“It is important for the world that we reverse this vaccine
inequity and Africa benefits from it. We cannot recover sustainably without
it.”
In his contribution, Ghebreyesus stated that Africa should,
with the participation of its private sector, build capacity to produce its own
vaccines rather than relying on foreign countries.
“The poor and the vulnerable are hit the hardest by COVID-19
and we cannot let down our guard. What that is happening in many parts of the
world can also happen in our continent. Forty seven countries in the continent
have started vaccinating.
“However, the volumes of the vaccines are nowhere near
enough. So far Africa has administered somewhere over 25 million doses. This is
very tragic. The WHO is working hard to bring about equitable distributions of
vaccine doses.
“But it is clear that Africa cannot rely solely on import of
vaccines from the rest of the world. We must build capacity not only for
COVID-19 but for other vaccines and medicals. The corporation of the private
sector will be essential in this endeavour,” the WHO boss added.
On his part, Kagame urged African leaders to develop the
political will to make free movement of people within the continent a reality
in order to facilitate African trade.
He also called for investment that would enable the
continent to be part of the fourth industrial revolution that has been changing
how people’s lives and work.
“The social and economic effects of the pandemic are very
clear. We are counting on our continents resilience to see us through this
crisis. “Fortunately, we are working together as a continent with our partners
to build Africa’s vaccine manufacture capacity.
“The private sector has a big role to play in this. The next
health crisis will not catch Africa unprepared again. When we talk about the
emergence of the new Africa that means a continent that is confident in our
ability to meet the needs of our people,” the Rwandan president added.
Diop, in his contribution, called for investment in
infrastructure that would encourage intra-African trade and strengthened the
continent’s SMEs.
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