Tein Jack-Rich, the president and chief executive officer of Belema Oil, has pleaded for Nigeria’s inclusion in the G-20 economic group.
During the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, DC, Jack-Rich made the pitch.
The politician and philanthropist urged Africans in the Diaspora to work toward achieving this goal in a statement made available to our correspondent on Wednesday. He noted that the inclusion of Nigeria and the African Union into the G-20 would be a milestone in the acceleration of the world economy.
He believed that if the Pacific and Caribbean nations were included in Africa, the continent would become a force to be reckoned with.
”Nigeria is the heartbeat of Africa, if you talk about trade. We need to integrate the diasporan countries, and I haven’t heard anyone talk about the pacific countries.
”We have about 15 countries there, and we have 16 countries in the Caribbean, so it’s important to integrate these two diasporan countries with the African continent.
”And as part of the African Continent Free Trade Area, it’s important to recognise the potential these two diasporan countries actually have so that we can have a strong bloc. That makes Africa about 85 countries.
”Today, Africa is about 30 per cent of global GDP, that’s about two and half trillion dollars, that is not strong for us.
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Jack-Rich, however, said to achieve the goal, what Africa needed now was the right collaboration.
He said admitting Africa into the G-20 would help the continent a lot and would go a long way in ensuring its technological advancement.
”And another appeal I want to make is to see that Nigeria is also part of G-20, that is going to go a long way because Nigeria is about 19.3 per cent of Africa’s total GDP, that’s a strong economy.
”I am in the energy business; one thing we need right now is the technological collaboration, technology that you have matured, I mean from the G-7 point of view, you can actually be employed into enabling Africa to build the right economic gateway.
”As you talk about Climate Change today, one thing you can recognise is, in spite of the fact that Africa only admits about three per cent of global green house gas, we have a youth population that needs to be engaged.
”And to engage the population, we need jobs, and to create that, we need industries.
”So, we need you in the diaspora to enable us to access those technology that you have matured, so that the technology becomes the smart gateway for Africa to build its industrial value chain and reduce the green house gas the world is talking about today,” Jack-Rich stated.
Speaking earlier, an American businessman, Arnold Donald, admitted that Africa was a fertile ground for any business to thrive.
Donald said it was encouraging that, in spite of the current global economic crises, businesses globally were investing in Africa.
According to him, the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit creates a window for partnerships and collaborations between the public and private sectors, and subsequently accelerates economic growth.
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