2nd UBA Africa Day Conversations held virtually with calls for collaboration to fight COVID-19 fallout

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Pan-African lender, United Bank for Africa joined countries on the African continent to celebrate the African Day.

Formally the African Freedom Day and African Liberation Day, Africa Day, is commemorated on May.25 annually as a foundation for the formation of the Organisation of African Unity in 1963, now known as the African Union.

The bank brought together global leaders at its 2nd UBA Africa Day Conversations, screened live across the continent.

The focus this year was on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Covid-19 pandemic, with the leaders on the virtual panel discussion emphasising 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 Liberia’s President, George Weah; United States Senator Chris Coons; President & Chairman of the Board of Directors of the African Export–Import Bank, Professor Benedict Oramah; and President, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Peter Maurer, with the Group Chairman, UBA Plc, Tony O. Elumelu as the moderator.

Others were the Founder, Africa CEO Forum, Amir Ben Yahmed; the Secretary-General 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 said there’s need to come up quickly with fundamental solution to Africa’s challenges.“This is the time for us to deal with the situation, this is not the time for finger pointing, but for collaborative efforts by governments and organisations, to fight the pandemic globally,” he said.

“There is need to flatten the curve, we need global co-operation to stem global depression. Africa requires a large stimulus package and we need long-term solutions to prevent a cycle of debt.”

Liberian President, George Weah, said 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 vulnerable 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," he said.

US Senator Chris Coons said there’s need to develop a vaccine that is affordable and freely distributed to the population.

“This is no time to be looking backwards. We recognise the power of collective collaboration on the continent,” he said.

Prof. Benedict Oramah, on his part, called for swift implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement and disclosed that Afrexim has made available $200million to supply fertilisers and grains amongst across Africa.

The Afreximban boss asserted “If Africa allows hunger takeover the people, it will see an increase in insecurity, which will take a long time to overcome.”

Chikoti said the huge task of economic recovery on the continent, rests on both the government and the private sector.

“African governments need to accept the support of the private sector in alleviating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa. We have so far been able to release $25m to all member states”, Chikoti added.

Achim Steiner of the UNDP focused on digital connectivity as an enabler of development. “What we need to look at is to find a way for government as a regulator and also as an investor, to leverage private sector investment into these areas" Steiner said.

Peter Maurer, President, ICRC, said there is need to look at pandemics as part of a broader health system which needs stabilisation. "We must do more than life-saving. This pandemic has illustrated the weakness of health, water, sanitation and social systems, and we have to heavily invest into the stabilisation of these systems," he said.

Amir Ben Yahmed said the crisis is going to be a super accelerator of already existing trends.

“We have to get away from the commodity driven model which has failed in creating prosperity. We need to use this crisis to take Africa to the next level. We also need to attain self-reliance. Self- reliance is an important goal," Yamed said.