…SAYS DEBT RELIEF FOR AFRICA WITHOUT COMMERCIAL DEBT NOT SUSTAINABLE
AMINA HUSSAINI
Nigeria’s current priority is to ward off deep recession due to the COVID-19 pandemic and global shut down of economies, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has disclosed.
The vice president made this call on Friday during his presentation to the virtual 2020 EURAFRICA Forum which has as theme “Towards a realistic Euro-African partnership during and beyond the COVID-19 era”.
The vice president’s presentation was released to the media on Saturday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande.
Osinbajo stated that the Federal Government’s efforts were aimed at mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy.
He said, “We developed an Economic Sustainability Plan consisting of measures to support local businesses, retain and create jobs and to improve the circumstances of the most vulnerable.
“The Plan bolsters our health interventions and promotes the use labour-intensive methods in key areas like agriculture, light manufacturing, housing, and facilities management.”
On the issue of debt relief for Africa during COVID-19 pandemic, Osinbajo said debt relief involving commercial debts was desirable given the continent’s previous structural vulnerabilities and limitations.
“We continue to experience huge financing gaps, huge debt servicing obligations and foreign exchange shortages. It is clear then that we need all the help we can get.
“The Debt Servicing Support Initiative of the G20 is welcome and will no doubt bring some relief to relevant African countries. However, it remains inadequate because it does not address the problem of commercial debt service obligations.
“The share of commercial debt is almost two thirds of debt service in Africa so any debt relief arrangement not involving this segment is unlikely to succeed.
“Getting relief on commercial debt servicing will require the cooperation of bondholders and rating agencies which is why the African Union Special Envoys on COVID-19 are engaging with them actively. Nigeria calls on the EU to lend its weight to this initiative which is very important for Africa,” Osinbajo said.
He advocated equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines and in an affordable manner rather than on the basis of the highest bidder.
According to him, equitable deployment of the coronavirus vaccines is required to effectively contain the spread of the disease across the globe.
He said, “The first thing that comes to mind is to ensure widespread and equitable access to a COVID-19 vaccine.
“Europe should work closely with Africa to ensure that when a vaccine is finally deployed it should not be on the basis of the highest bidder but rather be made available at an affordable and in an accessible manner.
“This is a matter that should not be taken for granted. We saw during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, in richer parts of the world, that orders for test kits and reagents by African countries were deemed too small and tended to be ignored.”
The vice president called on the European Union to support the initiatives aimed at promoting vaccine access to poorer countries.
He stated, “Although Nigeria does not have the resources or means to pre-pay for a COVID-19 vaccine, we are fortunate to be a GAVI supported country and we urge the EU to lend support to GAVI’s effort to ensure equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines under the COVAX initiative.
“This way, poorer countries and their citizens will get the vaccines that they need at the same time as the rest of the world.”
Emphasizing the need to review the state of partnership between Africa and Europe, Vice President Osinbajo said the summit offered an opportunity for both continents to share perspectives on matters of mutual interest.
A global crisis, according to him, calls for global partnerships.
He added that COVID-19 pandemic remains a significant threat to every part of the world.
“The partnership between Africa and the European Union is good platform for both sides to work together on economic recovery and rebuilding of health systems.
“It is also equally important that we become even stronger advocates for closer international cooperation to tackle the fall out of COVID-19,” the Senior Advocate of Nigeria admonished.
The summit featured presentation from notable global leaders including the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, and the Prime Minister of Cape Verde, Ulisses Correia Silva, among others speakers.
The EurAfrican Forum aims to foster stronger collaboration between Europe and Africa, and better promote a shared green and inclusive growth, among other objectives.
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