Hafez Ghanem, World Bank Vice President, African Region, said on Saturday that the global body is committed to winning the war against poverty, coming a few days after the bank had raised real concerns on the fact that nine out of every 10 extremely poor people globally by 2030 are projected to live in African, and may jeopardise their primary goal of ending extreme poverty by that time.
To achieve that goal, the Ghanem said there is now need to close human capital and infrastructure gaps, as well as address the problem of fragility on the African continent, with a view to ensuring a stable region. This would help tackle poverty, he stressed.
Ghanem was addressing African delegations to the on-going IMF/World Bank Spring Meeting in Washington DC, where he assured that “The World Bank is committed to winning the war on poverty.”
He lamented that over 40 per cent of African population lived in fragility which has played a major role on slowing economic growth in the region.
Ghanem urged African leaders and all stakeholders to work had to end cross-border fragility.
“We have to identify the drivers of fragility such as political, ethnic, religious and socio-economic factors and deal with them. The lack of credibility of state is of a great concern,” he said.
“In some countries, the state is absent in some regions. When the state does not provide development, remember, nature abhors vacuum, some groups come and fill up the gap,” Ghanem said.
In his contribution, the Prime Minister of Somalia, Hassan Ali Khayre, urged regional cooperation to deal with cross-border fragility and insecurity.
He said that he represented the Somalia of today and the future, not the Somalia of 25 years ago.
He was confident that despite fragility challenges that faced the country, they would overcome present difficulties and grow the economy to ensure the wellbeing of the populace.
The Nigerien Minister of Planning, Aichatou Kane, who also spoke at the plenary, identified child-motherhood as her country’s major challenge as well as other countries in the Sahel Region.
She said though the topic is sensitive, especially among Muslims, citizens must be carried along to reduce the practice of early marriage for girls, in order to enable them attain formal education of at least, up to secondary level.
Kane disclosed that a recent survey of the ratio of children by Nigerien women indicated an average of seven children per woman.
She said that the development had necessitated a campaign to reduce the rate to an average of five children per woman.
She said that particular attention should be paid to the empowerment of girls and women for them to contribute meaningfully to the economic growth of the region.
The Cameroonian Minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Alamine Mey, said that his country plans to host about 500, 000 Displaced Persons and refugees and asked for the help of global organisations to provide education health and other social needs for them.
Onyinye Nwachukwu & Hope Ashike, in Washington DC
