Leaders at UBA Africa Day seek economic recovery

Collins Nweze

Global leaders have emphasised the need for strong collaborations between governments and the private sector to achieve quick recovery for African economies post Covid-19.

The leaders, who included the President of Liberia, George Weah; United States’ Senator Chris Coons; the President & Chairman, Board of Directors, African Export–Import Bank (Afreximbank), Benedict Oramah; President, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Peter Maurer, spoke during at the Second United Bank for Africa (UBA) African Day Conversations. The virtual Leadership Panel was moderated UBA Chairman, Tony Elumelu.

Other panelists were Founder, Africa CEO Forum, Amir Ben Yahmed; Secretary-General, African Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP), George Chikoti; Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Achim Steiner and Donald Kaberuka.

Elumelu, who is also the founder, Tony Elumelu Foundation, spoke on the need to mobilise everyone, stressing the necessity to discover a more fundamental solution to Africa’s challenges through collaborative efforts.

“This is the time for us to deal with the situation we have and also forge a better situation for everyone, acting again collectively. This is not the time for finger pointing but for collaborative effort by governments and organisations to fight the pandemic globally,” he said, adding that there was need to have a quick recovery from the pandemic including taking strategic steps to flatten the curves,’’ he said.

Weah explained how collaborations worked in his government to stem the sufferings brought by the  pandemic.