1. Simply to educate on the problems associated with COVID-19, shed light on the true elements for its arrest in our part of the world, to provide comfort, engender confidence and provide hope and assurance of a brighter tomorrow, we have been running one of Nigeria’s most successful COVID-19 Webinars with viewership running to thousands and by people in different parts of the world. We have heard a lot from experts in medicine, public policy, contagious diseases, biosecurity, interfaith relations, the economy, private sector interventions and the state of states. For our main event Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, GCON, Vice President Federal Republic of Nigeria has agreed to attend the Webinar in a conversation on the National Economic Sustainability Plan submitted by him to the President on June 11, 2020. Joining him in the conversation will be none other than Nigeria’s leading female light, Dr. Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Board Chair of GAVI and former Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy, and Dr. Donald Kaberuka, the seventh President of the African Development Bank and Chair of the Board of Directors.
2. The 10th COVID-19 Webinar is slated for at 5pm (GMT+1) on Friday June 19, themed State of The Nation: Economic Sustainability Beyond COVID-19. The aim is to see how our nation can pick up the pieces left us by COVID-19, global economic contraction, fall in commodity prices and the general effects of lock down of nations, avoid a depression and bring us back quickly to economic growth and development. Our nation holding a high number of young people, has the potential to make Africa rise to its rightful place in the comity of nations. The nation has vast untapped human and natural resources, yet it suffers under the weight of these for a host of reasons in addition to, and beyond, COVID-19. Government plans to use a host of short-term tools including monetary and fiscal policy to make you and our economy bounce back. But this cannot be a game of bouncing ball, as it is conceived as much needed plan to our survival as a nation.
…
8. So how we, in this new normal, can create employment, accelerate the economic development of agriculture and solid minerals sectors, become the manufacturing hub of the world, be the nest for fintech and outsourced work that can be done remotely, improve our bandwidth, and focus on the youth using less of state intervention and relying more on those people who earn their living daily? Will a 12 month plan do, or do we need a marshall plan? Can African States learn from each other, or should they, (as they have in theory with the Africa CDC[1]), have a joint or concerted action plan? What is the continental approach to revival of our homeland – so as to be a place that will ensure black lives matter all over the world.
9. The evening will be a conversation with the people of Nigeria and her friends: those who come to work and live here; those who invest here; those ready to buy made in Naija; those ready to help tell our story. The question is how do we go beyond rhetoric to concrete action? How do we go from macro economics to home economics – in other words unpacking the Plan of government into understandable bits for the farmer, the small scale manufacturer, the building contractor, the dress maker and moneylender to understand? How do we bounce back when there is still so much uncertainty about COVID-19, a cure or a vaccine? How do we bounce back and achieve economic sustainability without prioritization of our needs, true citizen democratic engagement and cutting to size over bloated public service with unbelievable drain on scarce funding? What can we learn from other markets especially in Africa?
The conversation will be moderated by Prof. Konyin Ajayi SAN, (Chaplain Emmanuel Chapel, amongst other things is Chairman Nasarawa State Investment & Economic Council; Advisory Board Member NESG; NED Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc; and Managing Partner Olaniwun Ajayi LP, a member of Lincolns Inn, England, has LLB (Hons) Unife, LLM Harvard and PhD Cambridge) and Dr. Chinny C. Ogunro – who holds a Ph.D in Health Management (Technology and Operations Management, Strategy) from the Harvard Business School, a M.A. in Health Administration from Cornell University, and Bachelors degrees from Stanford University, was between 2011 – 2013, a consultant to the Federal Minister of State for Health. She is the Chief Executive Officer of WellSpring Health, a Nigeria-based integrated care consortium committed to delivering quality, affordable healthcare at scale. She also currently serves as Director of Health Research at the Center for the Study of the Economies of Africa, where her research has explored innovative business models for health care delivery in growth economies, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.
The Webinar is hosted by Emmanuel Chapel Methodist Church, Lagos Nigeria, being one of the newest outposts of the oldest Church in Nigeria; and the organisation of the webinars is in the hands of its Chaplain, Very Rev. Prof. Konyin Ajayi SAN – who heads the largest and one of the oldest law firms in the country – and has been at the centre of several landmark initiatives in the fight against COVID-19 in Nigeria.
We look forward to hosting you, and aim to answer your live questions and address your concerns.
