Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, Nigeria
Friday 16 July 2021
Protocols,
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From the Salt flats of Cabo Verde to the Foothills of Senegal to the Savannas of the Gambia to the Coastal Plains of Guinea-Bissau to the Highlands of Guinea to the Lowland Plains of Sierra Leone to the Tropical Rainforests of Liberia to the Pastures of Cote d’Ivoire to the Shrublands of Ghana to the Lagoons of Togo to the Mangroves of Benin to the Voltas of Burkina Faso to the Dunes of Niger to the Delta of Nigeria, we are gathered here to build mutual trust and foster better cooperation without borders. Je dis que nous devons construire une confiance mutuelle et une cooperation sans frontieres.
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This evening marks the end of two days of eventful activities, kicking off with the Opening Ceremony and Launch of the ECOWAS TPO Network, the first Annual General Meeting of the TPO Network, Cocoa Breaks with Cocoa from the ECOWAS region, Jollof wars between Ghana, Senegal and Nigeria with an unexpected winner (I will come back to this). We received Alhaji Aliko Dangote, President Dangote Group to brainstorm on our theme for the meeting which is ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) to African Continental Free Trade Area AfCFTA. We also had a very insightful Fireside Chat with Mr Tony Onyemaechi Elumelu, chairman of Heirs Holdings, the United Bank for Africa, Transcorp and founder of The Tony Elumelu Foundation and Mr Jean Bakole, United Nations Industrial Development Organisaton (UNIDO) Regional Director and Representative to ECOWAS, on the same theme. We visited HE. President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR where we were graciously received by Professor Ibrahim Gambari, Chief of Staff to the President, who re-affirmed Nigeria’s support to regional and continental integration. We thereafter visited the secretariat of the TPO Network domiciled at the Export House, Headquarters of Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC).
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As I reflect, I am reminded of a meeting between President Kenyatta and former President Jonathan aimed at deepening trade relations and activities between Kenya and Nigeria. At the end of this meeting a communique was released mandating that over the next couple of years trade between Kenya and Nigeria should have doubled, however upon hearing the mandate, President Kenyatta asked for the current trade volume between Kenya and Nigeria, in response he was told it was next to nothing, at which he remarked saying “double of zero is equal to zero”. He then said the way forward is by fostering collaboration between the Nigerian Export Promotion Council and Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency, through which goods and services that can be traded between both countries would be identified and the respective companies that produce the goods and services would be connected to foster trade. Ever since then, it became very clear to me that the way to foster better trade among countries is through cooperation between our respective trade promotion agencies. It is therefore imperative that through this TPO network we work assiduously towards facilitating the ease of trade for particularly our MSMEs within the ECOWAS region and Africa at large, thereby building an army of exporters that will boost intra Africa trade. this new mechanism of TPO Network will help a great deal in boosting trade and consequently, deepening economic integration in the sub-region and Africa.
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Let me get back to the jollof wars. In a bid to settle the age long dispute about who has the best jollof rice, during lunch yesterday we had the Transcorp Hilton chef cook Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal jollof rice. After lunch, during the Fireside chat, Ghana claimed a premature victory, which of course Nigeria and Senegal disagreed with. To ensure a total resolution of the dispute the members of the TPO network reviewed the results of this battle, only to discover that the Transcorp Hilton chef who cooked all three options of jollof rice is from Sierra Leone. Res ipsa loquitur, Sierra Leone has won. The resolution of this age long Jollof wars by the ECOWAS TPO network in less than two days, highlights the great potential of this network to resolve long standing trade challenges within the region. We are now left with solving the cocoa wars.
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Africa is well known for its family and community approach to living. A very common African proverb says, “It takes a village to raise a child”, this shows that in Africa we like to do things as families. The ECOWAS TPO Network is not just an organization, institution or initiative, it is indeed a family. It is often said that there is no better place to strengthen a family bond than at the dinner table, so I enjoin us to network and strengthen the bond of this new family as we dine together.
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As I conclude, I would like to reiterate my mantra, everything we need for Africa is in Africa, tout ce dont nous avons besoin pour l’afrique est en afrique. So, I enjoin us to work towards building an Africa that is self-reliant and self-dependent.
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Thank you and God bless ECOWAS and God bless Africa.
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