BY NDUMBE BELL JOSEPH GASTON IN DOUALA
The UBA Group chairman’s forum 2022 that held in Abuja ended recently. Here, Nigeria’s vice President, H.E. Professor Yemi Osinbanjo was quoted saying that “digitisation, and climate change remain critical for Africa’s economic development”. He quickly noted that although digitisation has contributed significantly to the economic fortunes of African economies, much remains to be done especially as digital technology offers the most effective way to fast-track Africa’s development.
The Nigerian Vice President made these remarks at a dinner offered in his honour during the Tony Elumelu forum which is said to be an annual interactive and knowledge sharing session bringing together the group and the bank’s subsidiary board members as well as its executive management team from across Africa and globally to further solidify the vision of the bank and generate ideas for the advancement of Africans and the African economy.
Nigeria’s Vice President was commended by the UBA Group Chairman Tony Elumelu (who recently visited Etoudi), for his various contributions towards economic development in Nigeria. Nigeria’s Vice President equally commended Tony Elumelu and the UBA management for what was called, the auspicious event pointing out that climate change and the management of it has a huge role to play on the continent in the coming years.
The Vice President Osinbajo of Nigeria emphasised that “there are two crucial issues bound to determine Africa’s growth trajectory in the next few decades. They are; digitisation and how we handle climate change. While digital technology offers the most effective way for Africa to leapfrog African development, clean and renewable energy sources are the fastest growing segment of energy today and will certainly be a key economic driver well into the future, and must be embraced.” This is an idea that is suggestive for UBA to finance those who wish to develop the sector.
Replying to the toast, Chairman Elumelu, in a highly spirited tone of appreciation, stated that, “UBA is honoured to have the V.P. grace this occasion. Like some of you may know, our Vice President authored a wonderful piece on foreign policy and after I read it, I shared it with everyone in my network because it mirrors most of what we stand for. At UBA our commitment to ESG and energy transition is wonderful but as Africans we believe it should be done in an equitable manner especially given the fact that carbon emission inAfrica is sub 2%.
In the same vein Chairman Elumelu highlighted that, “We set up isolation centres across the country and spent so much money on vaccinations, easing the processes around it. We have focused on opening up of the economy. We just put together 100 billion to help support our security agencies and capacitise them”.
This event took place in the conspicuous presence of the CEO of UBA Cameroon, Jude Anele and the UBA Cameroon Chairman Ebenezer Esoka who spoke on the role that banks and other financial institutions have to play in the economy especially in a continent as endowed and vast as Africa. He also drew attention to the issue of food security and job creation according to FAO statistics. Ebenezer Esoka then underlined that, “Central banks and the financial systems have a critical role to play in empowering the solutions to the issues of food security and job creation on our continent.”