His Excellency Dr Salem Ibrahim Al Naqbi, UAE Ambassador to the Republic of Kenya, presented his credentials as Non-Resident Ambassador to the Republic of Madagascar to His Excellency Andry Rajoelina, President of Madagascar, during a ceremony held at the Royal Palace in the capital, Antananarivo.

H.E. Al Naqbi conveyed the greetings of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE President, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Presidential Court, to H.E. President Rajoelina, as well as their wishes of further progress and prosperity for the government and people of Madagascar.

For his part, H.E. President Rajoelina conveyed his greetings to His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE President, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Presidential Court, and expressed his wishes for further development and growth for the government and people of the UAE.

H.E. President Rajoelina also wished the ambassador success in his work to enhance bilateral relations in various fields between the two countries, stressing his country’s readiness to provide all possible support to facilitate his duties.

For his part, H.E. Al Naqbi expressed his pride in representing the UAE in Madagascar, and highlighted his keenness to strengthen bilateral relations across various sectors, to enhance ties between the two countries.

During the meeting, the two sides reviewed areas of cooperation between the UAE and the Republic of Madagascar, and discussed ways of developing them to achieve the interests and aspirations of both countries and peoples.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Arab Emirates Ministry of Foreign Affairs&International Cooperation.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a US$ 1 million contribution by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to provide emergency food and nutrition assistance to severely food-insecure people in northwest Nigeria.

In collaboration with the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, WFP will provide food and nutrition assistance to 14,000 people in Katsina and Sokoto states for six months. Livelihood assistance and psycho-social support will also be provided to promote social cohesion and peace among crisis-affected communities.

“With rising food costs, and inflation running above 30 per cent, the highest level in 30 years, this partnership comes at a time of great need for humanitarian assistance in Nigeria”, said David Stevenson WFP’s Country Director and Representative in Nigeria.  “The ECOWAS contribution underscores the efforts of the humanitarian agencies and the government authorities in tackling the scourge of conflict and hunger in northern Nigeria. Together, we are creating sustainable solutions that will ensure long-term food security and resilience in the region.”

Rising inflation, conflict and high food prices across the country have left millions of people in Nigeria struggling to feed themselves. The Northwest region now has the highest number of hungry people in the country. The March 2024 Cadre Harmonisé food security analysis projected that the number of hungry people could reach 6 million during the June-August 2024 lean season – a sharp increase of over 30 per cent compared to the same period in 2023. Child malnutrition is also running very high in the northwest, with some 4 million children acutely malnourished.

“ECOWAS has reaffirmed its dedication to alleviating the suffering of people impacted by humanitarian crises,” said Prof Fatou Sarr, ECOWAS Commissioner for Human Development and Social Affairs.

“The Federal Government of Nigeria, under the renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu, is committed to ameliorating the plight of the vulnerable, bearing in mind the socio-economic challenges faced by communities due to insecurity, poverty, conflicts and natural disasters,” said Abel Enitan, Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

Overall, in Nigeria, WFP provides food and nutrition assistance to 1.2 million people in the conflict-affected northeastern states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe, and supports some 200,000 vulnerable people in the northwest.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Food Programme (WFP).

Experts from member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are meeting from August 29 to 30, 2024 in Lome, Togo, to update the study for the establishment of the ECOWAS Fund for the Development and Financing of the Transport and Energy Sectors (FODETE). The consultative meeting is organized by the ECOWAS Project Preparation and Development Unit (PPDU). The meeting, which saw the virtual participation of ECOWAS Commissioner Sediko DOUKA in charge of Infrastructure, Energy and Digitization, was launched by the Representative of the Minister of Economy and Finance of the Togolese Republic.

The purpose of the consultative meeting is to examine the corrected final report on the implementation of FODETE, following the latest recommendations made by the experts at the technical meeting held from March 6 to 8, 2024 in Abidjan. It could be recalled that the Abidjan meeting, which was attended by representatives of the ECOWAS National Offices and the Ministries of Finance/Planning of each member state, focused on the timetable for setting up FODETE, as well as the levy rates to be applied by sector.

At the opening of the meeting, Commissioner Sediko DOUKA, on behalf of H.E. Omar Alieu TOURAY, President of the ECOWAS Commission, thanked the Government of Togo and its Head of State for having accepted to host this regional consultative meeting, and for their constant support for the cause of integration and development in the ECOWAS region in general, and for the development of regional infrastructures in particular.

According to the ECOWAS Commissioner in charge of Infrastructure, the project to create FODETE bears witness to ECOWAS’s strong commitment to mobilizing internal financial resources to finance infrastructure, the basis of all development, and a factor in stability, job creation and peace.

“To this end, the ECOWAS Commission undertook four advocacy missions to Ghana, Senegal, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire. The aim of these missions was to raise awareness of the FODETE dossier, to demonstrate the advantages of FODETE in terms of sustainable infrastructure financing, and to take into account the concerns of the various countries. I am pleased to inform you that the advocacy missions were well received by the various member states, who reaffirmed their support for the FODETE dossier,” said Commissioner DOUKA.

In his official opening address, delivered on behalf of H.E. Essowè Georges BARCOLA, the new Minister of Finance and Economy of the Republic of Togo, Mr. Ahodo-Abalo TCHAMDJA, Director of Conjoncture and Macroeconomic Forecasting, reiterated the commitment of the Government of Togo to continue supporting FODETE to become a sustainable financing model that will stimulate service delivery in the region’s transport and energy sectors.

He added: “Togo is also convinced of FODETE’s potential to provide a sustainable financing mechanism to reinforce collective economic growth within the region”.

At the end of the two-day meeting, the experts will finalize a clear roadmap for adoption by the ECOWAS Statutory Bodies and implementation of the ECOWAS Fund for the Development and Financing of the Transport and Energy Sectors (FODETE).

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Vice President and Flagbearer of the NPP. Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has underscored the significance of  digital identity and address systems to modern economies and nations.

Speaking during his campaign tour of Dome Kwabena Constituency in Accra on Thursday, Dr. Bawumia said developed economies have gone ahead leaving African countries behind, because their economies went digital, adding that, for African countries to catch up, there is the need for African economies to also go digital.

Dr. Bawumia, who has passionately spearheaded Ghana’s remarkable digitalisation drive, said he proposed that African economies should go digital in order to achieve economic transformation, in a book he wrote 14 years ago.

“I wrote a book in 2010 – ‘Monetary Policy and Financial Sector Reforms in Africa” and I made the point that Africa needs to go digital. That if we don’t go digital, we are going to be left behind because the digital revolution is the key for African economic development,” Dr. Bawumia told a diverse audience.

Having written the book six years before he became Vice President, Dr. Bawumia said once he got the opportunity to serve as Vice President, he knew exactly where his focus should be, with the blessings of President Akufo-Addo.

“When I came into office, I focused on one area which is digitalisation of the economy,” he said.

“I focused on it for a good reason because in modern economy digitalisation is key to solving a lot of problems not only in Ghana but across Africa.”

Dr. Bawumia, however, added that for Ghana’s digitalisation to successfully take off, a solid foundation needed to be built, because  without thosef foundations, digitalising the economy could not have been achieved, hence his focus on  that.

“There are things you have to do do first if you want to enter the digital world. First, your citizens must be digitally identified. That’s why we said let us issue the Ghanacard and the Ghana Card has been issued,” he said.

“85% of adults in Ghana now have the Ghanacard. We have issued 18 million Ghana cards and that makes Ghana the leading country in  sub- Saharan African for digital identity.  Today, even children who are born in Ghana, we are giving them digital identities just as it happens abroad.”

“We give them an identity number at birth. We have linked that Ghanacard with the birth and dirth registry so that integration of those systems is allowing Ghana to do something that no other country in the world has been able to do.”

Another digital foundation Dr. Bawumia said he focused on, which he noted, is essential to creating a digital economy, is digital address system.

“When we came into office, Ghana was not having an address system that was working throughout the country.. But an address system is TV one of the most important elements for any modern economy,” said Dr. Bawumia.

“An address system is sof important that today, if you go to the United States and you collapse their address system; just erase it, if you could, that economy will collapse because you can’t function. The businesses cannot function without an address system,,” he stressed.

Dr. Bawumia stated that when he remained committed to building these structures for a strong and efficient digital economy for Ghana, many, who did not understand the linkage between digitalisation and economy, questioned what he was doing and also sought to mock him.

“When I started, many people could not understand how digitalisation related to the economy and so increasingly, they are now beginning to understand.”

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of The Presidency, Republic of Ghana.