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The World Bank has unveiled a new package aimed at consolidating
its efforts to eradicate poverty in Africa through economically empowering the
people.

The package, entitled ‘Africa’s Future and the World Bank’s
Support for it’, is designed to provide support for the continent, with
specific focus on its twin pillars of promoting competitiveness and employment
generation.

The plan, which is a marked shift in the way the global bank
views Africa, is a product of extensive consultation with stakeholders on the
continent on how best to tackle the challenges of under-development through the
creation of the socio-economic and political climate for Africa’s
competitiveness in an increasingly changing global system.

One of the major investment components of the plan would see
about $24 billion (about N18.4 trillion) invested annually by the World Bank to
close the current infrastructure gap, put at about $48 billion annually, to
boost investments in the continent.

Empowering Africa

World Bank’s vice president for Africa Region, Obiageli
Ezekwesili, who announced the plan during a teleconference from Paris monitored
by representatives from various media across the continent, explained that the
implementation of the plan would help the continent’s economic reforms over the
next decade.

She said the package would also help to diversify the economies
in Africa, create employment, improve health care, support good governance, and
tackle the challenges of corruption, climate change, and other occurrences that
hamper development in the continent.

Mrs. Ezekwesili, who hinted that approval of the new plan,
designed after broad consultations with all public and private sector as well
as social groups in the continent, was given by the bank’s board on Tuesday,
pointed out that its goal is to create structures and systems that would
address the challenges of under-development as well as reposition the various economies
for improved competitiveness in the global business environment.

“The plan is going to be a huge focus on how Africa can
diversify its economic structure, how traded goods and services, in
manufacturing, agro-business, ICT, mining, and tourism as well as feed on
domestic capacities.

“These are key pillars of competitiveness like agriculture,
transportation utilities, education and skill development can receive even
greater attention in the areas of reforms as well as public investments in
order to get the highest growth impact.

“It will be a total focus on infrastructure, business
environment, and skills acquisition from without as well as from the
continent,” Mrs. Ezekwesili said.

The World Bank chief said “the strategy will address
macroeconomic as well as shocks such as health, natural disasters such as
drought, forest desertification, soil erosion, as well as address food
shortages, conflict and political violence, and threat of climate change.

“We will provide as much advocacy and build up power to support
development, particularly with regard to climate change. The foundation of the
strategy, which is governance and public sector capacity building, will be
based on the feedback we got during the period we were on the continent.

“We will emphasise the need to address governance as well as
public sector leadership, both of which are critical factors in Africa’s
continued performance and improvement,” Mrs. Ezekwesili added.

The World Bank’s chief economist for Africa, Shantayanan
Devarjan, said the bank’s new planned support for Africa is “as much a
reflection of what we (the bank) heard from Africa’s people and leaders as it
is the thinking of the World Bank”, adding that “though we are confident it is
the right approach at this time, we also want to make sure that we are ready to
adapt asAfrica continues to change and progress.”