By Mohammed Bougei Attah/Panelist
To advocate for a transparent and accountable management of Special Drawing Rights, SDRs and other global financing instruments, the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, has hosted an interface with stakeholders in Nigeria and Ghana.
The two-day hybrid event which takes place on Monday 20th and Tuesday 21st November in Abuja has as two major focus, which include sharing data generated from the research conducted in two West African states of Ghana and Nigeria. The other focus is to advocate for transparent and accountable management of SDRs and other instruments for increased, sustainable financing for a green economic recovery in West Africa.
Giving his welcome address at the opening of the Conference, the Executive Director of ANEEJ, Rev. David Ugolor revealed that of the 15-member states of ECOWAS, eleven of them are currently in debt distress. This he said further is attributed to a new report by the Nigeria Economic Summit Group, NESG, and the Open Society Initiative for West Africa, OSIWA. Other 10 countries after Nigeria include Benin, Burkina Faso, Liberia and six others.
Nigeria’s public debt, the Conference revealed, stood at N87 trillion as at June this year. This it revealed further is according to information from the Debt Management Office, DMO.
The conference had in attendance the Executive Director of ACEP, Ghana, Director, The World Bank and the Office of the Minister of Budget and National Planning. Others include the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, House of Representatives Committee on Aids, Loans Debt Management as well as the DMO office.
The Technica sessions include presentations of the Assessment of SDRs Utilization in Nigeria, Assessment Report on SDRs Utilization in Ghana and Special Drawing Rights and Reallocation for Low Income Countries by Leo Atakpu, representative of ACEP Ghana and Rev. Ugolor.
The Panelists for the two-day event include the key stakeholders above as well as three leading CSO experts, Mohammed Bougei Attah of Procurement Observation and Advocacy Initiative, Mr. Monday Osasa of Centre LSD and Comrade Otitolaye Taiwo among others.
