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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari will on Friday give the keynote address at the Afreximbank and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to announce the 2nd African Sub-Sovereign Governments Conference in Abuja.
In a statement by Director, Media and Public Affairs Nigeria Governors’ Forum Secretariat, Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, the NGF meeting will hold on Thursday, September 29th.
President Buhari will address the 36 states governors and their counterparts on the African continent as meet to discuss pertinent subnational alliances.
According to the statement, the Director General of the NGF, Asishana Okauru, in his invitation to all Governors to attend an in-person meeting Thursday, said the meeting which will kick off at 2 pm at the New NGF Secretariat complex, will witness the commissioning by the NGF Chairman, Kayode Fayemi.
For the 2nd Conference of African Sub-Sovereign Governments Network (AfSNET), in a joint statement, the two institutions said, African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), in collaboration with the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), said the theme is: “African Sub-Sovereign Governments Network, Championing Africa’s development”.
The Conference will herald, among other things, the adoption of an institutional and governance framework for the African Sub-Sovereign Governments Network (AfSNET), an Afreximbank initiative, launched in 2021 at the inaugural conference in Durban, South Africa, with the mission of promoting peer learning, cooperation and collaboration among sub-sovereign governments.
AfSNET is expected to boost intra-African trade, investment, industrialisation and development. Governments, state and regional governors, premiers, etc. are expected from all parts of Africa.
The statement quoted the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank, Benedict Oramah, as saying:
“The African Sub-Sovereign Governments Conference is integral to achieving the goals set under the AfCFTA as it seeks to provide a platform that will promote the building of trade enabling infrastructure, enhancing the role of export trading companies and promoting information exchange on trade and investment opportunities, existing financing instruments and initiatives among Sovereign nations in Africa. This conference provides an opportunity for the sub-sovereigns to showcase their projects and network with other sub-sovereigns and businesspeople.”
According to the NGF Chairman, Fayemi, “the NGF is partnering with Afreximbank on this initiative because many countries’ policies are often developed by the central governments, while the subnational entities, either at state, province, or prefecture where the rubber meets the road as the drivers of growth are left behind.
“The subnational is where people feel the impact of governance and it is about time that the subnational leapfrog to a decent pedestal where constructive progress in the economy, like manufacturing, trade and commerce is enhanced. This ‘African Sub-Sovereign Governments Conference’, in my opinion, will attract substantial leverage to the subnational and its peoples.”
The 2nd African Sub-Sovereign Governments Conference will host executives and senior representatives of states, provinces, regions, and governorates drawn from African countries and will also include investors and financial institutions from across the continent, the statement concluded.
