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What prospects does the hosting of WEFA hold for Nigeria’s child? Between May 7 and 9th 2014,
Nigeria broke history by hosting the 24th edition of the World Economic Forum
on Africa (24th WEFA). It was the first time the global event took place on the
soil of West Africa since the African edition was convened in Switzerland in
1990. The WEFA themed, “Forging Inclusive Growth,
Creating Jobs” has been acclaimed as the most successful of the Forum meetings
thus far. It brought together leading political, business and civil society
individuals to debate on how to tackle
Africa’s biggest challenge: to create a continent of increased
prosperity and strong communities; of strong governments delivering quality
services and leaving no one behind. From inception World Economic Forum
meetings are distinguished by their ability to enable and promote active
participation of government, business and civil society figures, boththe most
experienced and the most promising, all working together in the collaborative
and collegial Spirit of Davos. Nigeria began its thrust to host the event in
2012 at the 22nd WEFA which was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. When Nigeria’s
slot for hosting the event was fully stamped in Davos, Switzerland in January
this year, the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr
Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala stated that the august event was coming at a time when
Nigeria is becoming more integrated into global capital markets and when the
country’s aspirations to attract foreign investment into non-mineral sectors is
becoming increasingly viable. Among the many of benefits of WEFA to
Nigeria was the attraction of over 68 billion dollars (about N12.9 trillion) in
investment to the African continent in the form of Foreign Direct Investments
(FDI) as well as private and public investments targeted at projects that would
foster the agriculture sector, improve infrastructure such as roads, railways,
hospitals, education, skill development and ICT across African countries. In
response to the abduction of Chibok schoolgirls
the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Mr. Gordon Brown created a
$20billion ‘Safe School Initiative Fund’ to develop and enhance education in
the terrorism-ravaged areas of Nigeria. The Nigerian Government has committed
US10b to this Fund while the other half comes from the UN. Among the highlights of the WEFA was the
announcement by the Federal Government of Nigeria that it
had concluded arrangement to partner with US Agency for International
Development on a $20m health scheme programme to build capacity of primary
health services in the country. “The programme known as Healthy
Margination Mother and Child Initiative will have each of the partners
contributing toward the $20m in the first phase over the next five year. This
is to reduce preventable maternal and infant mortality rates in Nigeria,’’ he
stated. The minister added that the
programme would support the midwives scheme, especially in using technology to
build their skills, noting that there was the need to grow skills in the health
sector to enhance service delivery. According to him “Nigeria still
comprises a large share of the world’s burden of child and maternal, morbidity
and mortality. Infant mortality in Nigeria has seen a 38 per cent reduction to
78 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2012. These positive trends are indicative
of the Nigerian government’s genuine commitment and sustained investment for
maternal and newborn health, where notable progress has been made over the past
few years. We have hired over 60,000 new healthcare workers that are today
providing better services to expectant mothers. It is however estimated that 22,000
more expectant mothers are now receiving care during pregnancy. “Clearly, there is still more to
do and with partnerships like this, we can achieve our goals through our Save
One Million Lives programme,” he said. In the words of the Nigeria
Mission Director of USAID, Mr Michael Harvey, “Indeed, programme with the
potential to improve the health and wellbeing of the population are critical
focus of USAID’s activities in Nigeria. |