African Governments Must Collaborate More For The Continent's Development
Channel: Prof. Yemi Osinbajo
Date: 2022-05-12

SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY, MUHAMMADU BUHARI, GCFR, PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, DELIVERED BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, AT THE INAUGURAL CONFERENCE OF SPEAKERS AND HEADS OF AFRICAN PARLIAMENTS FOR AFRICAN SPEAKERS ON THE 9TH OF MAY, 2022


PROTOCOLS

It is a great pleasure to be here today to witness this historic event, the Inaugural Conference of Speakers and Heads of African Parliaments (CoSAP) for African Speakers, by African Speakers and for the benefit of all Africans.

I bring you warm greetings from our President, Muhammadu Buhari, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who would have been here but had made a previous commitment to an international engagement. He sends his best wishes for successful deliberations here today.

We must commend the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Nigeria, the Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, and other Founding Speakers from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa, for the foresight and vision that birthed this conference.

Our parliaments, in every sense, are true expressions of democracy. As the largest representative institution in Government and the closest to the people, our parliaments, indeed, ensure a government of the people, for the people and by the people.

For an institution such as this, the need for strong and visionary leadership is extremely crucial. In this hall today are the voices and desires of the African people; the voice of the average Nigerian far away in Bayelsa State is represented here; the Algerian far away in Constantine; the Rwandan far away in Kigali, or the South African in Johannesburg — all are ably represented here today.

The responsibility to have those voices heard and those desires met is a noble calling to which everyone here is bound.

If there has ever been a time when strong parliamentary leadership is most needed, it is now. This is so, especially because the COVID-19 pandemic has had a widespread effect on economies across the world, destabilizing health systems, upending supply chains, disrupting industries and above all, precious lives have been lost.

The African Continent has fared better than several other continents of the world but was not spared from the pandemic’s scarring effect. Although many African countries have been fairly successful in containing the spread of the virus, the social and economic costs have been high.

The African economy recorded 253,000 deaths and over 30 million jobs lost since the pandemic began. According to the World Bank, the COVID-19 pandemic is estimated to have pushed 26 to 40 million people into extreme poverty on the continent.

Various African countries took decisive measures to contain the spread of the virus and limit its socioeconomic impact. Public health interventions were rolled out, and several programmes and measures were put in place to combat the pandemic, such as lockdowns, stimulus packages, financial support to households and MSMEs, and so on. We all achieved some level of progress with those measures.

In many of our countries, despite relatively weak economic circumstances, the Legislature had to sit down with the Executive to make some of the most breathtaking budgetary provisions in our history. In Nigeria, our stimulus package was in the order of N2.3 trillion (in excess of about $6 billion). In many countries, the implications of the huge deficits from these supplementary budgets must have kept Legislatures and the Executive awake at night, but many realized and performed these hugely risky, but historical assignments because there was absolutely no choice.

But I think it is clear that the post-COVID economic recovery strategy for Africa must go beyond efforts in our individual countries. There is a need for increased collaboration and integration of efforts to drive sustainable economic growth and recovery across the African Continent. Our parliaments have a central role to play. It is to them that the power to enact laws, oversee government budgeting and international borrowing belong. And there are many opportunities for their proactive collaborative intervention.

A crucial concern for all African economies is how to improve liquidity, reduce the debt burden and improve our balance of payments positions, especially in the wake of the huge damage done to our finances by the pandemic.


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Oluyemi Oluleke “Yemi” Osinbajo is a Nigerian lawyer and politician who is the current Vice President of Nigeria, in office since 29 May 2015.

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