Cairo Meeting: We Seals $43.7bn Trade, Investment Deals —Afreximbank

Afreximbank says about 43.7 billion dollars worth of trade and investment deals were sealed at the just concluded Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2023) held in Egypt. Kanayo Awani, Intra-African Trade Bank, Afreximbank Executive Vice-President, said this at the Post-Event Virtual News Conference held in Cairo, Egypt on Tuesday. Awani said the 43.7 billion dollars worth of trade and investment deals sealed was against the projected figure of 43 billion dollars which was set, describing the event as a success. She said the third edition of the IATF2023 attracted no fewer than 1,939 exhibitors, with 45 African countries represented. Awani said from the 45 African countries represented, 42 had pavilions, saying this was a remarkable achievement. She said that 16 non-African countries were represented at IATF2023, bringing the total number of countries to 61. “We did promise to come back and give you conclusive key indicators after doing the necessary audits. “In terms of participants of attendance both in-person/virtual, we ended up with 28,282. In terms of the number of exhibitors, I think we had announced 1,615 at the close of the trade fair but following our audit, it was 1,939. we had actually targeted 1,600.” She said that by their own estimation and standard set, the IATF2023 was a huge success because they exceeded many of their parameters. Awani said the trade fair was a platform used to connect buyers and sellers, saying we were aware that the contracts that were being negotiated had to be financed in one form or the other. “As Afreximbank, we ensured that financial institutions and non-banking financial institutions were part of the trade fair to provide the necessary financing and expand access to finance on the continent.” Awani said that the IATF2023 was a huge platform to access finance. “The IATF is not just a platform to grow intra-African trade but a platform for banks to grow access to finance.” The Afreximbank, working with the African Union and other strategic partners, inaugurated the Intra-African Trade Fair in 2018 as a key initiative to support the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

G77+China Summit: Nigeria, Cuba Sign Science, Technology Growth Pact

The Nigeria’s delegation to the G77+China Summit led by Vice President Kashim Shettima, on Saturday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Republic of Cuba on science and technology growth. Mr Olusola Abiola, the Director of Information, Office of the Vice President, in a statement, said the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Mr Uche Nnaji, signed the MoU for the Government of Nigeria. The signing ceremony, which took place Saturday on the sidelines of the G77+China Summit at Hotel Palco La Habana, was the high point of Nigeria’s participation at the summit. Nnaji said the MoU would further enhance collaboration in the field of innovation, science and technology between the two countries. The minister praised President Bola Tinubu for his visionary leadership which had resulted in the signing of the agreement. Nnaji, who assured that Nigeria would maximise the opportunities provided by the bilateral agreement, emphasised that the implementation of the agreement would commence in earnest. He expressed determination to put in place the appropriate mechanism to work out the modalities for programme of action. Earlier, Shettima averred that Nigeria places high premium on South-South cooperation as a platform for promoting sustainable development of the global South. The bilateral agreement would focus on research and development. Other areas include human resource development which will further deepen partnership between the two countries. The areas of cooperation covered by the bilateral agreement include biotechnology, scientific investigation and innovation, technological development and human resources development. Others are specialist exchange in the area of science and technology, and technologies transfer for development areas. The historic event was witnessed by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Adamu Lamuwa, Nigeria’s Ambassador to Cuba, Amb. Ben Okoyen and other senior government officials.

Africa Social Impact Summit: Entrepreneurs seek $49.6m intervention

African inventors and entrepreneurs are seeking $49 million from investors at the just concluded Africa Social Impact Summit (ASSIS) to scale up their businesses. This is contained in a statement signed by Mrs Olapeju Ibekwe, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Sterling One Foundation, made available to newsmen on Tuesday in Lagos. The two-event was co-convened by Sterling One Foundation and the United Nations in Nigeria. The summit had as its theme, “Global Vision, Local Action: Repositioning the African Development Ecosystem for Sustainable Outcomes.” Ibekwe said that the Summit featured a deal room with pitches from 18 businesses shortlisted from over 500 applications from across Africa. She said that the finalists, drawn from South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria with businesses cutting across health, waste recycling, agriculture and education, had a combined investment bid of about $49.6 million for expansion and production capacity increase. According to her,   the investors are observing due diligence to determine what the successful candidates will access to upscale their businesses. The CEO noted that the gathering of key players from the government, the diplomatic community, civil society and the public and private sectors for the summit, was not a talk shop but a meaningful engagement that would spark the desired impact in Africa. She said that ASIS 2023, being the second edition, was designed to help build partnerships and galvanise investments that would ensure that Africa made rapid progress towards achieving the SDGs. Ibekwe said that with the world halfway through the 15-year timeline set for the actualisation of the SDGs, there had been a call across the globe to review the work done to see what had worked and what had not. He said this was to identify critical areas where additional measures were needed for success to be achieved. She said that the call formed the basis of conversations at ASIS 2023. She said that the call also resonated as former President of Malawi, Joyce Banda; Consuls-General of the British High Commission, USA, Germany and Denmark, including experts in various fields, shared insights into different sustainability strategies. She expressed the hope that several partnerships and innovations would emerge from the summit. The CEO said that she was looking forward to existing social impact initiatives in various rural communities, accessing multilevel resources, to be able to do more and spread their impact from community to community across the continent. She added that she was humbled by the intentionality of the private sector to own the SDGs and expressed gratitude to the partnership of the United Nations as the co-convener of the summit “Across the continent, the people are waiting for action. For far too long, Africa has been tagged the emerging continent, with its potentials a recurring theme of conversation, yet poverty, hunger, climate crisis, and inequality, remain visible; thus, Africa is yearning for action. “I remain confident and incurably optimistic that there is the capacity for the type of action we seek in this room. There is the capacity to build strong partnerships for sustainable solutions to move from plans to action quickly. “I urge everyone to interact and collaborate because the stakes are very high,” Ibekwe said. She said that Mr Abubakar Suleiman, Managing Director and CEO of Sterling Bank Limited, explained that the true essence of the Summit was to ensure that at every level, the issues and challenges resulting in widespread poverty across Africa got tackled rightly. “Six months from now, when we reach out for you, we want to hear that because you came here, you met someone, and you established a relationship, you rethought your approach, therefore, are getting more value from your resources, and are better at solving problems together. “The only thing that matters is the relationships you form today and how these relationships transmit to a much better outcome than you had before you came here,” Suleiman, who is also board member of the Sterling One Foundation, said. Ibekwe said that the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Nigeria, Mr Matthias Schmale, said the 2030 Agenda was a clear framework for addressing the challenges facing Africa, which required all to break free from business-as-usual approaches and move together faster. “Governments, NGOs, and civil society cannot tackle our current challenges alone. “If we are to secure a just, sustainable world, we need a whole-of-society approach in which the private sector plays a pivotal role,” Schmale said. While further stating that the promise of the 2030 Agenda was now in peril, he urged more CEOs and investors to adopt the 10 principles of the UN Global Compact. He asked them to hire more qualified women, and ensure that their investments focused on more than just profit, to reflect social impact considerations. He pledged support to the Nigerian Government, citing the Cooperation Framework for Sustainable Development, which both parties had agreed to. He also called on more organisations to embrace Public-Private Partnerships to leverage the strengths and capabilities of both sectors to fast-track and scale up major development initiatives.

Sultan, Kukah seek community involvement in tackling security challenges

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, has called for increased community representatives’ involvement in solving the lingering security challenges facing the nation. Abubakar, who was represented by Dr Jabbi Kilgore, the District Head of Kingori made the call during a town hall  organised by the Kukah Centre for Peace in collaboration with Global Right, an NGO on Tuesday in Sokoto. The Sultan said that bad governance, injustice and inequality were some factors contributing to insecurity. He enjoined leaders at all levels to be fair in dealing with their subjects and know that they would give an account of their stewardship after leaving this world. In his keynote address, Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Mathew Kukah also identified religious intolerance, fanaticism and injustice as some of the factors responsible for insecurity in the country. Kukah also said  that sectionalism, fanaticism, injustice and religious intolerance were responsible for insecurity in the country. He urged stakeholders at the meeting to come together to form common front in curbing the menace saying insecurity know no religion. Earlier,  Governor Ahmad Aliyu of Sokoto state, represented by the Permanent Secretary Ministry for Religious Affairs, Alhaji Abubakar Torankawa rreiterated the commitment of the government to partner with groups and association in promoting peaceful coexistence in the state. The Sokoto state commissioner of police,  Ali Kaigama, also emphasised on the need for public support to community policing drives initiated by the Nigerian Police. Kaigama said the police will continue to partner with the Nigerian army and other sister security agencies in tackling insecurity in the country. In his presentation, Prof. Tukur Baba, the Dean Faculty of Social Sciences in Federal University Birnin Kebbi dwelled on factors that promoted insecurity from pre-independece. Baba advised authorities to change the land use act, taxations and consider global, regional, national and community approaches to holistically deal with the problems of insecurity. He described the assessment by the National Bureau of Statics revealing the poverty index as glaring. ”This is the effect of insecurity, maladministration and poor people attitude in the northwest,” he said.