Akinwumi A. Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group,has advised African countries to stop begging Europe and other advanced countries for vaccines to stop the spread of COVID-19
Adesina,who spoke at the Mid-Term Ministerial Performance Review Retreat in Abuja,advised that Africa should be producing vaccines.
He regretted that:”Africa has only 2% of its population vaccinated, compared to 54% in the U.S and 75% in Europe. So, while developed countries are receiving booster shots, African countries cannot get basic shots”
According to him,Nigeria must build quality health care systems that will protect its population as well as build world-class local pharmaceutical industries, able to effectively tackle the production of therapeutic drugs and vaccines.
He added that Nigeria must revamp its local pharmaceutical industry and launch strategic investments for local vaccine manufacturing.
He disclosed that the African Development Bank will invest $3 billion in support of local pharmaceutical industries in Africa, including in Nigeria.
He said Nigeria must decisively tackle its debt challenges,stressing that the issue is not about debt-to-Gross Domestic Product ratio, as Nigeria’s debt-to-Gross Domestic Product ratio at 35% is still moderate.
He added that the big issue is how to service the debt and what that means for resources for domestic investments needed to spur faster economic growth.
He said:”The debt service to revenue ratio of Nigeria is high at 73%. Things will improve as oil prices recover, but the situation has revealed the vulnerability of Nigeria’s economy. To have economic resurgence, we need to fix the structure of the economy and address some fundamentals.Nigeria’s challenge is revenue concentration, as the oil sector accounts for 75.4 % of export revenue and 50 % of all government revenue.
“What is needed for sustained growth and economic resurgence is to remove the structural bottlenecks that limit the productivity and the revenue earning potential of the huge non-oil sectors.Nigeria should significantly boost productivity and revenues from its non-oil sector, with appropriate fiscal and macroeconomic policies, especially flexible exchange rates that will enhance international competitiveness”
He emphasized that infrastructure is critical for unlocking the full potential of Nigeria’s economy,saying the country will need $15 billion a year for investment in infrastructure.
He advised that financial innovations should be prioritized as governments alone cannot afford these huge financial costs,while the private sector should be given incentives to invest in infrastructure.
He said the Federal Government’s 15 trillion Naira Infrastructure Fund is a good idea, so is the initiative for tax credits for private sector investment in infrastructure.
He said in order to be sustainable and more efficient, Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) should be accelerated to finance major infrastructure across Nigeria.
Nigeria’s institutional investors, especially the pension funds,he said, should invest in infrastructure,adding that governments can also implement ‘Infrastructure Asset Recycling models, where existing infrastructure assets on government books can be turned over to the private sector, freeing up financing for governments to invest in new infrastructure needs.
