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Gov Okowa Of Delta State Took Battle For Smes To The United Nations by Adeznuru(m): 7:41am On Nov 29, 2015 |
Nigeria took centre stage at the United Nations
Headquarters in New York on Tuesday,
November 24, when Delta State Governor, Dr
Ifeanyi Okowa, took the stand to deliver the
Keynote Address of the 2015 Africa
Industrialisation Day with the theme, “SMEs for
Poverty Eradication and Job Creation for Women
and Youth.” The Conference Room 7 of the UN
headquarters was packed full, an indication of
the interest which the international community
attached to the subject of Africa’s industrialisati
on.
Okowa
The elite gathering included Mr Mogens
Lykketoft, President of the United Nations
General Assembly, Tete Antonio, Permanent
Observer of the African Union to the United
Nations, Mr John Page, Senior Fellow, Global
Economy and Development Programme,
Brookings Institution, and Mr Vandi Chidi Minah,
Permanent Representative of the Republic of
Sierra Leone and the Chair of the Africa Group.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Paul Maseli, Director
and Representative of UNIDO, organisers of the
event, did not mince words in assessing the
current state of industrialisation in Africa. “After
25 years of celebrating Africa Industrialization
Day,” he declared, “and two General Assembly-
endorsed Decades of African Industrialization
the picture is, unfortunately, all but encouraging.
Africa remains the least industrialized continent.
It also remains the poorest continent.
“Many reasons have been given for this poor
state of affair. They range from the externally
imposed structural adjustment programme of
the 1990s, to bad policy choices and over
reliance on commodity exports. All these had
particularly negative effects on technological
accumulation, human capital development and
manufacturing export performance.”
He was emphatic that “fast-tracking
industrialisation efforts in Africa in the
post-2015 era is particularly imperative to
create jobs for broad segments of the
population. With almost 200 million people aged
between 15 and 24, Africa has the youngest
population in the world. And it keeps growing
rapidly. If the present trend continues, the
continent’s labour force will be 1 billion by
2040, making it the largest in the world,
surpassing both China and India. If Africa misses
this opportunity to industrialise and create
sufficient employment opportunities to support
decent living conditions it could present a
significant risk and threat to social cohesion and
political stability in the future.”
In a joint statement read by Tete Antonio, the
African Union (AU), United Nations Economic
Commission for Africa (UNECA) and United
Nations Industrial Development Organization
observed that “this year’s Africa Industrializati
on Day theme, which is focused on the
development of SMEs for Poverty Eradication and
Job Creation for women and youth, denotes the
importance of focusing on productive drivers of
economic growth that ensure inclusive and
sustainable development. SME development is
among those key productive drivers. Empirical
evidence shows that there is a positive
correlation between a country’s overall level of
income and the number of SMEs. Thus SME
development with a special focus on women and
youth remains a top priority for policy makers,
development partners, the private sector as well
as academia and NGOs in Africa’s quest to
achieve sustainable development.”
The three organisations reiterated their call for
“inclusive and sustainable industrial development
through SME development” through “renewed
and more intensified actions, for decision-
makers to define adequate policies and
strategies for SME upgrading, human resources
development, innovation and strengthening
capacities of responsible institutions that could
promote productive and job-rich SMEs
development in the context of inclusive,
sustainable and equitable economic growth that
creates decent jobs with a special focus on
women and youth in Africa.”
Delivering the keynote address, Governor Okowa
noted that the relatively impressive economic
growth in African countries in recent years has
not been accompanied by improved living
conditions of the people. He argued that
“Economic growth that does not result in job
creation and poverty eradication is like building a
house on sand. It can neither stand the test of
time nor withstand the headwinds of adversity.”
The challenge for African countries, Okowa
pointed out, is to “take urgent and drastic
measures to ensure their economies are made
more resilient to external shocks and, more
significantly, that the current growth momentum
translates into economic transformation for the
continent.”
With Africa’s population set to double by 2050,
“unlocking the economic potential of the
continent lies squarely with the development of
SMEs as vehicles of industrialisation and, by
extension, poverty eradication,” the Governor
declared. He argued that “the challenge is for
African countries to adopt strategic and
pragmatic approach to this vital sector of the
economy. Economic and industrial policies must
have clearly defined goals, the goals must be
realistic, and they must contain monitoring and
accountability mechanisms to facilitate effective
implementation.”
In formulating economic policies, Okowa
cautioned that the “focus should be on what
works, not ideological convictions.” He then
proceeded to present his administration’s
modest efforts to create wealth and provide
jobs for women and youth.
“Our strategic approach,” he said “is a
comprehensive programme of youth training,
development and empowerment in agricultural
enterprises and vocational skills, microcredit to
support small and medium scale enterprises, and
the creation of a conducive business and
investment environment.
“Also we are undertaking concerted measures
for the integration of agricultural and agro-
industrial development based on our
comparative-advantage commodities, particularly
cassava, oil palm and aquaculture. Overall, we
are responding to our social and economic
development challenges through policy thrusts
and programme priorities articulated in the
S.M.A.R.T Agenda of our administration. The
S.M.A.R.T Agenda embodies policy priorities for
sustainable social and economic development
through job and wealth creation, urban renewal,
health and education reforms, agricultural
reforms and development of agro-industries and
accelerated industrialization, as well as peace
building and security.”
Governor canvassed the support of the
international community for his administration’s
Job and Wealth Creation Scheme. “In particular,”
he said “we would leverage financing and
technical assistance from international and global
agencies, including the United Nations, to
enhance performance and sustainability of our
Job and Wealth Creation Scheme.
In rounding up his address, the Governor posed
three questions to the audience. “In the face of
the funding and energy gaps can Africa really
compete in a globalised world? What is the
impact of globalisation and trade liberalisation on
the emerging African economies and their
capacities to truly industrialize? What new
policies or strategies will Africa need to put in
place to stimulate industrialization seeing that
they are latecomers to the industrialisation
process?
While commending Governor Okowa’s
admonition that the “focus should be on what
works, not ideological convictions,” there was
consensus among discussants that Africa’s
potential to compete are hampered by
infrastructure deficits, energy shortages, the
high cost of credit and the political will to brave
the odds.
Ms. Aurelia Calabro, Unit Chief, Agro-Industries
Technology Unit, UNIDO, called on African
countries to emulate the example of Ethiopia,
which she described as “the rising star of
Africa.” Calabro informed the audience that
Ethiopia has witnessed impressive industrializati
on leading to 10% economic growth in the last
five years despite its limited resources. The
secrets of their success, she pointed out, lies in
their investment in the leather works industry,
which has become renowned all over the world.
Other African countries, she explained, can learn
from Ethiopia’s success story in the footwear
manufacturing industry by zeroing in on areas
where they enjoy comparative advantage.
In addition, she stressed that Africa must
urgently overcome the widespread problems of
infrastructure, transportation, energy and
education through massive investments in these
sectors. Calabro, who has extensive experience
in rural entrepreneurship development and
relevant field experience in Africa, regretted that
African countries don’t know how to promote
themselves. “You have to brand your country,”
she declared. “Ethiopia is, for instance, the
motherland of coffee but nobody in the world
knows that.” She advised African countries to
identify their unique selling points and market it
to the world to attract investments and boost
their potentials for growth and industrialization.
In responding to the questions posed by
Governor Okowa, Ayodele Odusola, Chief
Economist and Head, Regional Bureau for Africa,
UNDP, insisted that SMEs in African countries
face a comparative disadvantage and therefore
cannot compete because of high cost of credit
and energy shortages. Describing the operating
environment in most African countries as “SME
unfriendly,” Odusola complained that local
enterprises spend about 20-30% of their capital
sourcing for alternative source of energy. He
was also of the opinion that Governments in the
continent are not “getting their policies right”
because instead of offering protection to local
industries their policies are “focussed on giving
multinationals high incentives.” Mr Odusola also
condemned a situation where foreign businesses
are allowed to operate in “areas where the
locals have comparative advantage.” |
Re: Gov Okowa Of Delta State Took Battle For Smes To The United Nations by bewla(m): 7:45am On Nov 29, 2015 |
long speech |
Re: Gov Okowa Of Delta State Took Battle For Smes To The United Nations by Adeznuru(m): 7:56am On Nov 29, 2015 |
bewla:It is a detailed summary of two days event |
(1) (Reply)
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