Yemi Osinbajo, the vice-president of Nigeria has called on the international communities to rally around Africa in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic, terrorism, and climate change.
Osinbajo made the call on Friday, January 21 during a virtual chat with Berger Brende of the World Economic Forum (WEF), when he informed the audience that the pandemic has caused a slowdown in the economic growth of the continent.
“There is a great need for global cooperation to help Africa in the face of the ravaging pandemic. This is a good time to test the global will and supportive tendencies,” he said.
He emphasised that Africa needs the global community to enable Africa to begin to produce vaccines to help tackle the pandemic in the continent.
The vice–president reiterated that the international community needs to help the African continent with its challenging democratic situations, without which he said there would not be much appreciable development.
“There is a need for a coordinated global response to addressing challenges such as terrorism, insecurity, among others in Africa. a stimulated global activity will help Africa handle both economic and democratic challenges,” Osinbajo noted.
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He states that Africa needs robust international intervention in tackling terrorism and insecurity that result from the encroachment of its territories by global terrors.
Osinbajo explained that peace and security are vital to African development, hence the need for the United Nations and other international organisations should find a way to assist the continent to eradicate terrorism once and for all.
He noted that the African people need partnership in tackling climate change and developing their democracy. He stressed that gas as a transition fuel is without a doubt very important for economic development.
“The World Economic Forum can assist Africa in the area of renewable energy. We think our vision for renewable energy can be complemented by the global bodies,” he emphasised.
On the achievement of the government of Nigeria, the vice-president disclosed that the country has plans on the way to connect 5million homes to solar power as means of addressing climate change problems and economic development challenges.
“Nigeria is the first country in Africa to develop energy transition plants. And this offers a massive business opportunity for global multinational firms,” he said.
Besides, he noted that Nigeria recently launched economic development plan which has a 4year framework. According to the vice-president, the idea behind the economic development plan is value addition and productivity.
“The key for us is what the private sector is going to contribute. We are prioritising creating an enabling environment for the private sector to participate. In our development plan which will cost about N14trillion, we expect the private sector to contribute 86percent, while the government brings 14percent, consequently, the private sector is a major player in our plan,” he stated.
The World Economic Forum is an international organization for public-private cooperation. The forum engages the foremost political, business, cultural, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas.
