Osinbajo Tasks ECOWAS Member States on EBID’s Funding Challenges
Ndubuisi Francis Odichimma Udora
The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osibanjo, has tasked the member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to do more in addressing the funding challenges of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID).
Osinbajo, who spoke at the 15th annual general meeting of the bank’s board of governors in Abuja yesterday, said the ECOWAS nations and the bank can do more especially in mobilising resources for a major West African agricultural fund.
He acknowledged the numerous challenges that the bank has had to face in recent times, arising from lack of adequate resources, adding that these challenges had limited its capacity to function well as a true financial arm of the community.
“Clearly, a well-resourced PDID (Partnerships for Food Industry Development) could play a pivotal role in financing the achievements of the objectives of vision 2020 which envisages a transformation of the ECOWAS states from an ECOWAS of states to ECOWAS of people, in which the people are prosperous, properly governed and has the capacity to access and harness the enormous resources of the community.
“So, clearly it is in our interest as member states to do more to address the funding challenges especially as the bank seeks to innovatively mobilise resources from across the continent and beyond in line with its cooperate objectives.
“We in west Africa and especially the bank can certainly do more especially with mobilising resources for a major West African agricultural fund, with an emphasis at promoting inclusion at jobs, because clearly the fastest way of providing jobs today especially for our population and many of us who are still in the rural areas, is the provision of agriculture, not just subsistence agriculture but smart agriculture that aims to provide real jobs that can make a real impact in the in the lives and livelihoods of our citizens,” he stated.
According to him, the role of the bank today was even more crucial, adding that it was appatent to all why it was so.
“The recent trends in global and economic development have had a significant impact on local and regional economies; the economies of our various countries have faced falling government revenues on account of commodity price slumps, declining economic growth and the challenge of creating jobs on a scale that can cope with our rising population.”