Economic Development: AU engages stakeholders towards implementation of plans

 

Our Correspondent

 

Daily Courier – In a bid to accelerate economic development in the country,The African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) has started stakeholders’ capacity building to effectively implement the National Programme of Action (NPoA)

Addressing Newsmen in Abuja on Monday, the Chief Executive Officer of AUDA-NEPAD, Princess Gloria Akobundus aid the programme is geared towards the “Harmonisation and Finalisation” of the NPoA framework to address the challenges identified in the Second County Review Report (CRR) and carry out national capacity building on “Monitoring and Evaluation framework” for the effective implementation of the National Programme of Action (NPoA).

According to Akobundu, it is critical to engage the implementers for better information, understating and ownership of the NPoA for effective implementation hence, the need for public sectors, MDAs, Civil Society organisations, organised private sectors, states and local government’s participation in this timely workshop.

“If you don’t understand what you are to implement, you will not be able to drive it properly, we work with the ministries, departments and agencies including Civil Societies and the private sector to produce the country’s assessment. We produced a report and it was validated.

“There are outcomes and recommendations on the country’s peer review in the report which need to be addressed. For the drivers to address it properly, they need to be trained and well informed for ownership and effective implementation.

“So, the workshop is very important, it includes experience sharing with other member states that have undergone first and second peer review and have implemented or are still implementing their own national program.

“So, we learnt from them how they were able to conduct their own implementation, and we also look at what Nigeria has. We have the agenda 2063 policy document, we have the agenda 2030 and we also have the ECOWAS agenda 2050, and Nigeria is developing a national plan that will help in guiding governance for the next 10 years, so we are not coming up with a national program of action.

Princess Akobundu said it is important that significant issues are addressed to enable the full realization of the goal of the NPoA framework.

Earlier in her remarks, the minister of finance, budget and national planning, Dr Zainab Ahmed, said the African peer review mechanism is set to attain the Pan African Vision of a prosperous and integrated peaceful Africa that seeks to reckon itself within global politics.

According to the finance minister, the ministry has recorded great milestones in providing a platform for the AU Member States that have acceded to the protocol to share information, knowledge, and experience as they review each other’s performance within the framework established by the institution.

The minister who was represented by Adeosun Peter said “as a self-monitoring mechanism in all aspects of governance, the initiative places the people at the centre of the development discourse for the benefit of Africans in the continent which is in line with AU Agenda 2063.

“APRM promotes best practices that will lead to sustainable economic growth, infrastructure development, political stability as well as an accelerated Sub-regional and Continental economic integration of the Continent.

“The government is fully committed to promoting the good governance practice enshrined in the ideals and vision of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) which gave birth to the APRM

 

Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, Nigeria was peer-reviewed for the second time by the National Programme of Action on February 4, 2022. The country is now set to implement the outcome of the review.

The core mandate of the APRM is a comprehensive NPoA developed to address governance challenges identified in the country.