FG Calls For Collaboration Among African States To Tackle Climate, Public Health Challenges
The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has called for greater collaboration among Africans in order to more effectively confront challenges along the lines of climate change and public health, especially local vaccine production.
Buhari, who was represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, spoke on Wednesday at a meeting of the African Union on the New Partnership for African Development, under the auspices of the 39th Session of the NEPAD Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee, at the margins of the 35th Ordinary Session of the African Union.
Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, disclosed this in a statement he signed late Wednesday titled ‘Nigeria calls for more African collaboration to fight public health challenges, climate change’.
At the virtual event, the President said the continent needs “to prepare itself more for intra-African collaboration to fight public health challenges, work together to promote vaccine production in Africa, and prompt response to climate change and the zero-emissions targets.”
He added that “the Covid19 pandemic has severely weakened our economies, but it has also left essential lessons. One is that Africa needs to prepare itself more for Intra-African collaboration to fight public health challenges, especially those of pandemic scale.
“We must work together to promote vaccine production in Africa. The second issue I would like to raise is Africa’s response to climate change and the zero-emissions targets set in Paris and subsequent climate change meetings.
“We must, of course, contribute our quota in protecting the environment and preventing climate change. But we must also continue to build sustainable power systems to accelerate development and create economic opportunities for our people.”
Speaking further about Climate Change, he said, “we need far more energy than the renewable sources can immediately provide. Therefore, we cannot but adopt gas as a transition fuel.
“We must together make clear to the developed world that the current trend of withholding funds for investment in gas development is the wrong thing to do at this time.”
While reporting the success made by Nigeria in domesticating the NEPAD framework on sustainable development, the President noted that “growth in the Nigerian ICT sector has been phenomenal. Indeed, ICT recorded the highest growth of all the sectors of the Nigerian economy in 2020.
On Agricultural development, he said NEPAD inspired Home Grown School Feeding and other Social Intervention Programmes; the Government is feeding over nine million children in public schools daily and significantly improving a lot of Nigerians.
“It is worthy of note that Nigeria is currently implementing the innovative strengthening of smallholder farmers’ capabilities towards productive land restoration amid COVID-19 in Nigeria through regional partnership.”
“This is not only to cushion the effect of COVID-19 in the country but also to accelerate the implementation of Africa’s regional initiative to restore degraded lands,” the President added.
While commending the foresight of the founding Fathers of NEPAD, AU’s development agency and the continental initiative for the effective implementation of Agenda 2063, Buhari re-echoed the view that “NEPAD is about the development of our continent – delivering to African citizens. Let us look forward to working together in building a strong organisation for delivery of results on the continent.”
Meanwhile, the Vice President had earlier received a delegation from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria led by its President, Comfort Eyitayo, on a courtesy visit to the Presidential Villa.
The Vice President commended the adoption of the new, innovative framework for public finance management known as the ICAN-AI and noted the proposed amendment to the Act establishing the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria.
Osinbajo expressed the belief that the ICAN Accountability Index will improve transparency and accountability in public finance management in Nigeria.
He said, “This (ICAN AI) is something that at least will give us our local content to these kinds of assessment. It is something that we all need to support. I will do all I can to support the innovation.”
In her remarks, Eyitayo praised the Federal Government’s “consistent drive to revamp the country’s budget system, aligning with the international best practice of having a January to December budget year and having Finance Acts to make the Appropriation Act more realisable.”
Other ICAN officials present at the meeting were former President of the Institute, Kolawole Bajomo; ICAN Vice President, Tijjani Isa, and Registrar of the Institute, Prof Ahmed Kumshe.
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Source: punchng
