Due to the alarming rate of hardship across African countries, the President of the African Development Bank Group, Akinwunmi Adesina, has tasked the continent’s leaders to implement welfarist policies and people-centred development.
“Given the high levels of poverty in Africa, and Nigeria, what is needed are welfarist policies that exponentially expand opportunities for all, reduce inequalities, improve the quality of life of people,” Adesina said as he received the prestigious Awolowo prize for leadership in Lagos on Wednesday, March 6.
Adesina said a better Africa must start with transforming rural economies, “that is because some 70 per cent of the population lives there. Rural poverty is extremely high. At the heart of transforming rural economies is agriculture, the main source of livelihoods.
“When rural economies falter, nations falter. This leads to the spread of anarchy and terrorists who take advantage of the economic misery to entrench themselves.”
He disclosed that the African Development Bank and development partners are providing $1.4 billion for the development of 25 Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones in eleven countries.
“In Nigeria alone, the bank is developing these zones in eight of the country’s 36 states with $518 million. Another $1 billion will go into the second phase of the program which will cover 23 more states.
In the area of health, he said“smart governments provide universal basic health coverage for their citizens” adding that sicknesses and diseases cost Africa $2.6 trillion in lost productivity.
The AfDB boss further explained that the Bank has introduced several programmes to address Africa’s health needs, including a $10 billion facility to support countries to cope with the pandemic; a $3 billion programme to revamp Africa’s pharmaceutical industries and the recent launch of the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation to support access to proprietary technologies from global pharmaceutical companies.
Africa’s present and former presidents were among hundreds of guests who attended the award ceremony where Adesina delivered the Awolowo Foundation’s annual lecture on ‘Making a New Nigeria: Welfarist Policies and People-Centred Development.’
