Weah only asked for training of 6,0Daily Trust: How has Liberia fared since the peaceful transfer of power from Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to George Weah?

Prof. Al-Hassan Conteh: Things are moving quite well. President George Manneh Weah gave the State of the Union address in which he outlined the problems and prospects of the country. He was very sincere explaining to Liberians the state of the economy. He said he inherited a government with a very low income. His priority is to collaborate with partners to buttress the country’s own income generating capacities in order to make things better for Liberians, majority of who are poor. So, because of this poverty problem which is not unique to Liberia, but cuts across many African countries, more than 50% of our people live on less than $2 a day. Given his own background, growing up in humble circumstances, that has motivated what he calls a pro-poor development policy. In following that address, he embarked on goodwill trips abroad with Liberia’s bilateral partners, including Nigeria in order to build relationships and explain to them the new dispensation under his watch. That fared very well. He came to Nigeria and had a very good meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari who he regards as his elder brother because of Nigeria’s pivotal role in Liberia peace process. He has been appointing his cabinet which is priority now, making sure that important positions are filled and that is about 85% complete. Also, he has been breaking grounds for some of the priority projects he promised during his campaign. For example, for the first time, we are going to have a military hospital.

We had high-level visit from the World Bank and an International Monetary Fund (IMF) team to evaluate our economy and we are happy to note that they said there is great prospect for the Liberian economy to recover. As you know, we had health challenge in 2014, that led to the drain of the productive sector. We are very happy that this team has come and said that if we generate revenue and build institutions, the GDP would advance at 1.8% growth this year.

DT: President Weah during his visit to Nigeria was said to have requested for 6,000 Nigerian teachers. What’s the progress made so far on the request?

Conteh: Usually, when two presidents meet and have discussions, the agencies responsible for implementing the policies would take on the request. We have an agreement with Nigeria’s Technical Aid Corp, (TAC), the agency that provides technical assistance to African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. I will meet with the director and evaluate the current status of the TAC programme in Liberia and address this request which is for Nigeria’s technical assistance to train 6,000 Liberian teachers. I would like to clarify that the request is not recruiting 6,000 teachers from Nigeria, it is Nigeria’s technical assistance to train the gap that we have, because we currently have 6,000 untrained teachers according to the audit that was done by the new minister of education. So, I’m going to discuss the details with the director of TAC to see how we can work out and identify the resources for doing that.

DT: What is your assessment of Nigeria-Liberia bilateral relations?

Conteh: It’s excellent, besides the government level where we have several agreements signed under the Nigeria-Liberia Joint Commission which was re-launched in 2014. We have agreements on education, mines, training of foreign service officers and have proposed three new ones on agriculture, health and technical assistance. Beside those formal agreements, at the presidential level, there have been contacts. Liberia and Nigeria also collaborate not only on bilateral level but also through ECOWAS to address regional issues. And on people-to-people relations, there is a deep and historical relationship at the citizen level - citizen diplomacy. There are Liberians who live in Nigeria and Nigerians in Liberia. Some Liberians have even naturalised in Nigeria and vice versa. So relationship is very cordial between our two countries.

DT: What’s your take on democratic governance in the sub-region?

Conteh: I think democratic governance has to be buttressed by institutions. That is the key challenge that we have in Africa today. If African governments can set up inclusive governments so that once elections are held, instead of the winners taking all, they have to be magnanimous to reach out to the opposition and bring those who are qualified to be part of the government, especially the young people. Liberia has taken the lead, President Weah has appointed many young people. And also to establish what is referred to as non-extractive institutions. In other words, institutions that do not hinder growth, are transparent and based on good governance where people can participate because this is one way to reduce poverty if people have access to education and resources. So, I think the lack of strong institutions or the existence of extractive institutions is one of the key problems. All segments of society, women, youth and civil society should have a voice. If we do that, the democratic space will expand we will able to prevent the political tension that leads to the military taking over government or the usual tension, demonstrations and unrests.

DT: ECOWAS is over 40 years since its establishment but free movement of people and goods is still not perfect. What do you think can be done to remove the barrier to free movement?

Conteh: ECOWAS has protocol on free movement of people and goods but the problem is implementation because what we have realized at the practical level is that those who are responsible for implementing this policy are very negligent. There is high level of graft at the borders, you have the unnecessary check points. What ECOWAS is doing now is trying to have border posts at critical areas that will facilitate and monitor this. But as you know, movement is very difficult. I think with the establishment of those joint border posts and the placement of professional officials at the borders, that issue will be addressed to a very large extent.

DT: 44 African countries have signed the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) agreement which aims to boost intra-African trade. But some countries including Nigeria and South Africa have declined, what is your view on this?

Conteh: The agreement is intended to promote intra-regional trade which is very low compared to other regions of the world. But there is a great opportunity for us to benefit because of Africa’s huge market of about two billion people and the GDP of about $2.3trillion. But the problem is usually the tariffs which are higher among African countries compared to when individual African countries trade with the outside world. What the AfCFTA is trying to do is to address this issue - tariff reduction and ensure a physical space for small and medium industries because African economies comprise of many of these SMEs.

So my understanding is that the countries that have not signed including Nigeria need some more time to consult with their stakeholders, which is very important because there is no use signing an agreement when the manufacturers are not confident that they can benefit. What the African Union Commission should do now is to engage countries that have not signed to find out what their concerns are. I’m confident that before the end of 2018, we will see substantial progress.

DT: Have you read Nigerian books?

Conteh: Recently, I read “My Watch” by former President Olusegun Obasanjo; “The Accidental Public Servant”; “Rochas Revealed” as well as Segun Adeniyi’s books. I also read a book by the Minister of Science and Technology, Mr Ogbonaya Onu, on how the All Progressives Congress was formed as a coalition and the book on Professor Wole Soyinka’s biography. These books are very good in telling one the actualities, especially things that happened behind the scene.00 teachers – Liberian envoy

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/weah-only-asked-for-training-of-6-000-teachers-liberian-envoy.html

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