Monday, January 25, 2021
  • Markets & Companies
    • Stock Market
    • Companies
    • Appointments
    • Commodities
  • Business & Economy
    • Energy
    • Agricultural Economy
    • Insurance & Pensions
    • Aviation
    • Maritime
    • Road Transport
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Investment
    • Manufacturing
    • Consumer Goods
  • Innovation
  • MSME
  • Empire
  • Opinion
  • Cultural Currents
  • Features
  • AE Magazine
  • Corporate Rendezvous
Financial Street - Latest Business News
No Result
View All Result
  • Markets & Companies
    • Stock Market
    • Companies
    • Appointments
    • Commodities
  • Business & Economy
    • Energy
    • Agricultural Economy
    • Insurance & Pensions
    • Aviation
    • Maritime
    • Road Transport
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Investment
    • Manufacturing
    • Consumer Goods
  • Innovation
  • MSME
  • Empire
  • Opinion
  • Cultural Currents
  • Features
  • AE Magazine
  • Corporate Rendezvous
Financial Street - Latest Business News
No Result
View All Result

China must pay reparations to Africa for its coronavirus failures

by Obiageli Ezekwesili
April 10, 2020
in Opinion
0
Bring back our girls
0
SHARES
26
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on WhatsApp
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn

Obiageli “Oby” Ezekwesili is the former vice president for the Africa region at the World Bank and the former minister of education for Nigeria. She is the co-convener of Nigeria’s #BringBackOurGirls Movement.

The covid-19 pandemic has dealt a severe injury to Africa’s development prospects and worsened the conditions of its poor and vulnerable. Although there are calls for voluntary international aid to support the continent during this difficult time, this is far from the best solution.

READ ALSO

Good governance is ‘speed dial’ for greater tax payments

Role of technology in unlocking East Africa’s trade value

The continent must be accorded damages and liability compensation from China, the rich and powerful country that failed to transparently and effectively manage this global catastrophe. Africa’s economic gains since the last global crisis have been eroded. It is time to make offending rich countries pay the poor ones a global risk burden tax for delaying their rise out of poverty.

Read Also:

  • Good governance is 'speed dial' for greater tax paymentsGood governance is 'speed dial' for greater tax payments
  • Rethinking oil, gas licensing in AfricaRethinking oil, gas licensing in Africa
  • Role of technology in unlocking East Africa’s trade valueRole of technology in unlocking East Africa’s trade value

Today, Africa is home to more than 70 percent of the world’s poorest people, with more than 400 million living below the poverty line. It is no surprise that it is disproportionately vulnerable to this crisis. It should not suffer even more because yet another powerful country failed to act responsibly.

China should immediately announce a complete write-off of the more than $140 billion that its government, banks and contractors extended to countries in Africa between 2000 and 2017. This would provide partial compensation to African countries for the impact that the coronavirus is already having on their economies and people.

The analysis of the balance of compensation due to Africa can then follow from discussions with the Africa Union and its member countries, alongside global and regional organizations including the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the African Development Bank and the European Union.

Our world is long overdue for a change of approach in the way it manages global risks that leave the poor worse off due to failures of the rich and powerful. The current model of development assistance is broken and can never deliver any real change of fortune for the most vulnerable. We need a new model that strengthens people to engage in the design of their pathway out of poverty and builds economic resilience.

The current conditions mirror what happened during the 2008 global financial crisis. In my time as the vice president in charge of the World Bank’s operations in Africa, we had to mobilize internal and partner resources to mitigate the severity of the economic recession suffered by the continent. Exogenous shocks dealt a lethal blow to the countries’ decade-long steady rises of economic growth, which had averaged 5 to 6 percent annually until tumbling to 2.4 percent in 2009.

This sharp fall ended Africa’s upward economic growth trajectory and sent per capita income tumbling. It increased inequality and the number of Africans in absolute poverty. Such fragile and low economic growth rates for a continent with one of the world’s highest concentrations of young people and annual population growth rate of about 2.5 percent is a key reason for widespread multidimensional poverty — a threat that carries seeds of global insecurity and instability.

The economic shock caused by the coronavirus has badly reduced the opportunity Africa would otherwise have had to lift hundreds of millions out of poverty. The African Union Commission estimates that Africa’s gross domestic product will shrink by as much as 4.5 percent, resulting in 20 million job losses.

This has dangerously hampered the possibility that Africa can generate jobs for young people and women, or increase literacy levels by reducing the number of out-of-school children with access to quality learning opportunities. It will result in lessened ability to reduce maternal and child mortality, improve nutrition and food security, make reliable energy available and accessible, improve the availability of quality roads, water, sanitation, and other infrastructure, and such other investments in public goods.

China, a country that only within the past four decades has managed to lift more than 850 million people out of poverty, would understand how critical it is for African countries to accelerate inclusive growth. While economies in Asia, Europe and the Americas have announced hefty emergency stimulus packages for their people and businesses, countries in Africa struggle to meet short-term food needs.

Most of Africa’s countries simply do not have the buffer required for fiscal relief in times of crisis, because they were already severely constrained by budgetary crises caused by poor domestic revenue mobilization, high public debts and low productivity. The parlous public finances of these countries worsened due to volatility in commodity prices as the pandemic worsened.

Africa faces frequent shocks caused by climate, terrorism, health issues, food insecurity, crime and other sources of risk. Most of these perils emanate from the failures of the rich and powerful economies, but end up inflicting a disproportionate share of the poor and vulnerable.

China should demonstrate world leadership by acknowledging its failure to be transparent on covid-19. Beijing’s leadership should then commit to an independent expert panel evaluation of its pandemic response. China and the rest of the Group of 20 countries should engage with the Africa Union and countries to design a reparations mechanism.

It is time for rich economies to show that our world is capable of doing right by the poor and vulnerable.

China must pay.

This article was first published by Washington Post.

close

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn

Tags: AfricaChinaChinamustpaycoronavirusDr Obiageli Ezekwesili

Get real time update about this post categories directly on your device, subscribe now.

Unsubscribe

Related Posts

Good governance is 'speed dial' for greater tax payments
Opinion

Good governance is ‘speed dial’ for greater tax payments

January 22, 2021
Role of technology in unlocking East Africa’s trade value
Opinion

Role of technology in unlocking East Africa’s trade value

January 21, 2021
Lessons from Libyan oil industry recovery
Opinion

Rethinking oil, gas licensing in Africa

January 20, 2021
Godfrey Adejumo
Opinion

Strategic communications: The lifeline of effective nation-building

January 13, 2021
Power of natural gas to transform Africa
Opinion

Angolan legal reform and job creation in Africa

January 13, 2021
Remarks by AfDB's Adesina at 'Finance in Common Summit'
Opinion

De-prioritising growth that compromises our global commons

January 12, 2021
Next Post
Lagos gets 6,000 bags of rice, vegetable oil seized by Nigerian Customs

Lagos gets 6,000 bags of rice, vegetable oil seized by Nigerian Customs

RECENT STORIES

electricity tariff hike

EEDC begins distribution of free meters to customers

January 25, 2021
Bayelsa oil spill: Environmentalist faults visit by stakeholders

Bayelsa oil spill: Environmentalist faults visit by stakeholders

January 24, 2021
AstraZeneca: AZD1222 vaccine met primary efficacy in preventing COVID-19

WHO to secure 40m doses of COVID-19 vaccine  

January 24, 2021
CBN warns Nigerians against falling victim to cybercrime

Revised cheque book: CBN tasks DMBs, others on enlightenment

January 24, 2021
renewable energy

Africa’s post-COVID-19 recovery needs investment in renewable energy – Experts

January 24, 2021
Chevron denies spilling oil in Bayelsa

Chevron denies spilling oil in Bayelsa

January 23, 2021
Financial Street - nter corporate Okada

Cars45, Gokada offer low-priced courier service to Lagosians

January 22, 2021

TRENDING

  • Senegal heavy fuel use hurting earth, says Fortesa boss

    Senegal heavy fuel use hurting earth, says Fortesa boss

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Buhari to inaugurate national oil centre – DPR

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Biden unveils details of stimulus measures for US economy

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • ‘Billions At Play’ prescribes solutions for Africa’s energy sector

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Wari to begin cross-border remittance in Africa, other continents

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Financial Street - Latest Business News

© Financial Street 2020. All Rights Reserved.

More Links

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact Us

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Markets & Companies
    • Stock Market
    • Companies
    • Appointments
    • Commodities
  • Business & Economy
    • Energy
    • Agricultural Economy
    • Insurance & Pensions
    • Aviation
    • Maritime
    • Road Transport
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Investment
    • Manufacturing
    • Consumer Goods
  • Innovation
  • MSME
  • Empire
  • Opinion
  • Cultural Currents
  • Features
  • AE Magazine
  • Corporate Rendezvous