UNITED Bank for Africa (UBA) on Monday, celebrated Africa Day 2020,
that brought together global leaders at the 2nd UBA
Africa Day Conversations,
screened live across the continent. UBA helped set the
the debate around African economic development through
its series of “Africa Conversations”.
This year, the focus was on
the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the
Covid-19 pandemic. Leaders emphasised the need
for meaningful collaboration between governments
and the private sector, as a
requirement for the quick
recovery of the economy of
the African continent post
Covid-19. The panel included the President of Liberia,
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; and
was moderated by the Group
Chairman, UBA Plc, Tony O.
Elumelu.
Other leading voices contributing were the Founder,
Africa CEO Forum, Amir
Ben Yahmed; the SecretaryGeneral of the African Caribbean and Pacific Group of
States (ACP), George Chikoti; Administrator, United Nations Development Program
(UNDP), Achim Steiner and
Donald Kaberuka, the former President of the African
Union.
Elumelu spoke on the
need to mobilise quickly and
explained the necessity to
identify a more fundamental solution to Africa’s challenges. “This is the time
for us to deal with the situation, this is not the time for
fnger pointing, but for collaborative efforts by governments and organisations, to
fght the pandemic globally.
There is need to fatten the
curve, we need global cooperation to stem global de- pression. Africa requires a
large stimulus package, and
we need long-term solutions
to prevent a cycle of debt.”
Liberian President,
George Weah, demonstrated
how collaboration has assisted his country to stem
the sufferings brought about
by the coronavirus pandemic. “In Liberia we have
taken measures to ease the
financial burden on vulner- able 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,” President Weah
said.
US, Senator Chris Coons
made valuable contributions
to the discussions, saying
“We must develop a vaccine
that is free and affordable
and freely distributed so that
full economic activities can
return. This is no time to
be looking backwards. We
recognise the power of collective collaboration on the
continent.”
Prof. Benedict Okey Oramah called for the swift
implementation of the African Continental Free Trade
Area (AfCFTA) agreement
and disclosed that Afrexim
has made available $200mil- lion to supply fertilisers and
grains amongst across Africa. The Afrexim boss asserted “If Africa allows hunger
takeover the people, it will
see an increase in insecurity,
which will take a long time
to overcome.”

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