Buhari To Address Conference Of African Governors Tomorrow

President Muhammadu Buhari will tomorrow, deliver the keynote address when governors of the 36 states of the federation and their counterparts on the African continent meet to discuss pertinent subnational alliances.

According to a statement by the spokesman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, Abdulraque Bello Barkindo, preparatory to that the director general of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Asishana B. Okauru has issued out an invitation to all Governors to attend an in-person meeting Thursday, 29th September 2022.

The meeting, according to the director general, will begin at 1400 hrs (2:00 pm) during which the New NGF Secretariat complex will also be commissioned by the NGF Chairman, Dr John Kayode Fayemi.

Later there will be a welcome Cocktail for Colleague African Governors for the 2nd Conference of African Sub-Sovereign Governments Network (AfSNET), the Director General further added in the invitation.

The Friday meeting is being organised jointly by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Afreximbank. It is the 2nd African Sub-Sovereign Governments Conference by the continental institution.

In a joint statement, the two institutions, African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), in collaboration with the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), announced the second edition of the African Sub-Sovereign Governments Network (AfSNET) Conference set to take place on 30th September 2022 in Abuja, Nigeria.

Under the theme “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.

President and chairman of the board of directors of Afreximbank, Professor Benedict Oramah said, “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, Dr John Olukayode 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, governorates drawn from African countries and will also include investors and financial institutions from across the continent.