MOVING FORWARD FOR AFRICAN CONTINENT

It is important to engage the continent in all levels – governments, the business community, professional organizations, and youth, disadvantaged or marginalized groups, and consumers in the promotion and implementation of good governance. Of course, Africa is a dynamic and varied market, and across Africa corporate governance must be addressed within very different context; certainly work on corporate governance has not been uniform. Involving the public in demanding the implementation of good corporate governance involves building public awareness and understanding, and then organizing calls for reform.

CCG is exploring the idea of creating a media association and a student association to promote corporate governance. Involving youth and students will help build a base for future implementation. CCG currently works with a university to offer a diploma in corporate governance, has worked with Kenya’s central bank to put corporate governance in banking and finance master’s degrees, and has developed a master’s program that is offered in public universities. Once there is consensus behind corporate governance, the next challenge is motivating society to demand it. The media can help civil society understand that good corporate governance is not just about making profits. It can help connect well-governed businesses to increased productivity and competitiveness; high quality products; transparent and prompt pay taxes; efficient; transparent, and accountable use of tax revenues by governments; and – ultimately – the efficient and effective use of natural resources for the benefit of society. Good corporate governance leads to wealth creation, and viable business lead to job creation, and viable business lead to job creation. Only when people understand these connections will they get excited about corporate governance and be motivated to do something about it.

Foreign exchange is the heat of the food crisis, government spend N80 billion for the importation of 500,000 tons of rice to cushion the effects of food shortage on the citizenry. Agriculture plays a key role in national development. The number of people living with poverty in Nigeria is still over 70 million. A good poverty reduction programme must enable the rural poor to increase their level o production of economic goods thereby increasing their disposal income level and living standards. The most potent way of achieving this is to create an enabling environment for rural poor that are engaged     in agriculture to exit the subsistence level by increasing their productivity. Israel has successfully used agriculture to generate employment and raise the living standard of its people. People need to migrate to urban centers in search of non-existing white collar jobs.

To guarantee national food security and self- sufficiency for Nigeria, the government has to deepen its bilateral relations with Israel to explore and harness its agricultural potential. Cooperation should be in the area of technical assistance in irrigation and water management; research and development of improved, high yielded and disease resistant species of agricultural products. There are a number of exchange programmers between Nigeria and Israel. These should be expands and Nigerian government should   fund researchers to embark on study visits to Israel to understudy the Israeli farmers to establish demonstration farms in Nigeria. This will boost food production in Nigeria and afford Nigerians first hand experience of Israeli expertise in agriculture.