The African Union may be having a seat in the Group of 20 major economies, known in short as G20, as US President Joe Biden is backing a permanent spot for the union in international organizations.

A statement from the White House said Biden is seeking to elevate Africa’s role, and would make the announcement during a three-day US-Africa Summit that opens on Tuesday in Washington, DC,1 where the United States will commit to the continent after inroads by China and Russia.

The move follows a growing call led by the US for Africa to have permanent seats in international organizations, where most of her nations play major roles.

“It’s past time Africa has permanent seats at the table in international organisations and initiatives,” Judd Devermont, senior director for African affairs at the National Security Council, said on Friday.

“We need more African voices in international conversations that concern the global economy, democracy and governance, climate change, health and security,” added Devermont.

The Biden administration has been at the forefront of the call, pushing for permanent seats for African countries even in the United Nations Security Council. In September, the US president said during a speech to the UN that the World Body’s Security Council needs to be expanded to include more representation from Africa.

The US-Africa Summit is the closest opportunity Biden has right now to increase the seats for Africa in one of the international organizations. About 50 African leaders are expected to attend the meetings held December 13-15 in the US, where Biden is expected to discuss the African Union’s role with India – the G20 president for 2023.

The G-20 representation, besides giving Africa a global economic voice, is expected to create an opportunity that would allow African countries to more effectively push for the group to implement its pledge to help the continent in its fight against climate change.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, at last month’s G20 gathering in Indonesia, indicated that joining the group is important if the AU members would achieve their climate goals.

“We call for continued G20 support for the African Renewable Energy Initiative as a means of bringing clean power to the continent on African terms,” Ramaphosa told the gathering. “This can be best achieved with the African Union joining the G20 as a permanent member.”

Currently, South Africa is the only African member of the G20, which was launched in its current form during the 2008 financial crisis to bring together the world’s top economies. The group is made up of the world’s major industrial and emerging economies and represents more than 80% of the world’s gross domestic product.

But so far, other members of the G20 have not openly endorsed the request for the African Union to join the group.

Aljazeera reported that the Biden administration has sought warm ties with the African Union’s current chair; Senegalese President Macky Sall, who Indonesia invited to the latest G20’s meeting in November, and is expected at the Washington summit.

But it’s quite unclear if the US-Africa Summit will close the deal for the AU, given the current attitude of the group’s members. What is clear is that it will give the call a loud push.

To understand the stakes in Nigeria 2023 elections, ask your neigbhour, co-worker,  friend, associate, etc, one thing: tell me one thing Nigeria does well now at the global level. You may ask, have we ever done anything well? I respond YES and the constructs of comparative advantages have worked for Nigeria in the past.

A community’s well being is not defined by how much money  the elders can stack in the general bank account. Rather, how well it can put most of the members of the community working and pursuing their missions.

If Nigeria has remained the #1 exporter of palm oil, that comparative advantage would have deepened light manufacturing in soap, cosmetics, and allied production. In short, products which depend on palm oil as a major raw material would have emerged at scale. So, examining the market of palm oil, you do not look at the $50 billion tag; you extrapolate. By the time you finish the model, the extended size could be $150 billion. That challenges having money in the bank, from oil, since the oil has not attracted refineries, petrochemicals, chemical manufacturing, etc because we’re not #1 in oil.

In this world, you need to be #1 on something so that you can appear on the maps of major money movers. Since we cannot be #1or close on oil, the next president must choose another thing – digital skill, arts, palm oil, etc. So as you make your decision, ask yourself, among these men, who can help Nigeria become #1 or closer on something productive.

Our economy must be diversified towards evolution of potential synchronous regional growth sources across all states of our nation. This will drive an efficient, business-friendly regional system that will support the present effervescence in our economy.  A system that will move us from potentially episodic and ephemeral achievements of the present capital markets to a diffused learning that will transform artisans, traders, sculptors and farmers and move them up to learn and apply at higher levels. We will support small and medium enterprises (SME) across our nation. I will engineer a vibrant economy.

Comment on feed

Comment #1: To become number one in a sector at a global stage needs time and lots of hard work from both the leaders and the citizens. I am apolitical, I dont support any presidential candidate, but I just want to make an example: Tinubu was mocked and trolled for saying that we should employ more people into the army and feed them with locally produced food like eba, plantain, garri, and beans. I think that itself can improve to an a certain the economy and the standard of living for millions of Nigerians.

Yes, it can be done, but it can only be started now for it to be built on over a period of time. You will also have to consider the appetite and affinity of the populace for a particular sector, industry, etc.

My Response: It was a gaffe by Senator Tinubu; he misspoke there. Certainly, you cannot hire 50 million youth into the military. Nigeria’s military total capacity is about 250k active men/women.  Also, you do not feed people “cassava”, you feed people “garri” just like you cannot use crude oil for your car, you use petrol or diesel. While I understand that Senator misspoke on the 50 million number, people who corrected him on feeding “cassava” are within their rights. My posts, Tinubu’s comments, Buhari’s speeches, yours, etc are not protected – and should be pointed out/corrected/analyzed in a democracy.

#1 Follow up: Ndubuisi EkekweGood that we all understand that the number he mentioned was an exaggeration, but the idea of feeding our army with what we locally produced is very ok, my opinion.
We can’t ask the Chinese, Russians etc to come and eat our garri, right?

We have to feed our army with our own food, we will not feed them with Chinese or Indian food, should we??

My Response: You created a question and answered it yourself. I do not think anyone in Nigeria will dispute your point  that our Army should eat local. So, you hammering it seems to make it an issue. A private soldier earns N50,000. Warrant officer about N92k. There is no record they are fed with foreign food when deployed; the rumour has been that they are not fed well. Senator Tinubu after that speech put out a statement and clarified things. He was clear: it was not really about the food but paying these soldiers well. The lowest paid civil defense staff earns N96k to follow politicians (they do nothing useful) while soldiers begin at N50k. 

Last Tuesday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued a new memo to financial institutions in Nigeria which was duly signed by the Director of Banking Supervision, Mr. Haruna .B. Mustafa, directing that individuals will only be able to withdraw N100,000 per week from over the counter, Point of Sale (POS) Machines or the Automated Teller Machines (ATM), while organizations can only access N500,000 per week.

This new policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) mandates commercial banks and other financial institutions to ensure that over-the-counter cash withdrawals by individuals do not exceed the weekly limit of  N100, 000 and N500, 000 for corporate bodies.

This policy as expected caused a lot of uproars amongst Nigerians; while some have come in defense of this policy categorically emphasizing the pros of the policy whilst others are totally against it, laying claims on the cons of this policy and why it will never be successful in Nigeria, hence why it should be thwarted.

Truth be told, there is no government policy or law ever made or adopted that does have its pros and con, reason why before policies are adopted or laws are passed, the pros and cons are placed and weighed sided and see which outweighs; if the pros outweigh the cons the policy will be adopted but if the cons outweigh the pros it will be discountenanced.

Having said that, this new policy of the CBN in doubt has its conspicuous demerits and also its ambiguous merits and you can argue greatly for its abolishment so as you can as well argue beautifully in support of it depending on the side of the divide you are on.

Now here are the pros for the adoption of this policy;

1. The primary purpose of the policy is to reduce too much currency in circulation and steer the country into a cashless and digitized economy.

2. The ripple effect this reduction of cash in circulation will cause is that it will drive the price of the Naira up both in the local and the international money market because according to the economic principle of demand and supply; When demand is high and the supply is limited,  the price of the item will go up.

3. There will be a drop in inflation which will be a resulting effect of limiting the amount of cash in circulation in the economy.

4. This policy will also work against unnecessary hoarding of cash by politicians and money launderers.

5. This policy will always help to put a check on the movement of cash by criminals and bandits and help in the tracing/ tracking of those criminals.

Having highlighted the but not limited to the above points as the pros of why this CBN policy is long overdue, here come the cons;

The most pronounced demerit of this policy which most of its critics have been hammering on is that the Nigerian financial sector is not yet technologically advanced to that stage where we can go totally or semi-cashless, hoping that the digital banking and other fintech gizmos do not fail especially during weekend transactions.

Also, not everyone Nigerian is yet advanced to go fully digital, especially in the rural areas. Most of the rural traders who engage in a large volume of daily transactions are unbanked and how do you expect them to cope with just N100,000 per week for their large volume of buying and selling which require a large chunk of cash for efficient operations?

Those are the most critical demerits of this policy but all I see from these problems are opportunities and I know for a fact that anyone who is less sentimental will rather see the opportunities this policy will create instead of the problems.

This creates an opportunity for those in the fintech sector to create more efficient apps for efficient tech-driven transactions that will catapult Nigeria into a fully cashless economy. The market has already been created by this new CBN policy. Also, it is an opportunity for Nigerian banks to extend their operations to the rural market and get everyone on board and engage in research to find out the fears why most of the rural dwellers are yet to trust Nigerian banks with their monies, give them assurance and provide them with “rural friendly banks” that is as sophisticated as the level of their literacy.

I support this policy while hearted and I believe that it can work.
A Nigerian who is also in support stated thus; “There is no Nigerian that needs more than ?100k cash weekly. Other than paying the bus conductor or buying groceries, everything can be done cashless. It is kidnappers, bandits, and corrupt politicians who are fighting this policy”. I believe this postulation to a great extent.

The New Year is coming and you may be looking for new capabilities you may acquire, to deepen and improve your productivity – and in the process advance your leadership ascent. I have a suggestion: understand the x-factor (the most important variable to impact any outcome) in any project or partnership you may pursue.

Pre-Case: A few years ago, in Johannesburg, I delivered a keynote paper on electronics which was well received.  An Intel executive came to me, and asked me how we could work together. I asked for access to designkits. Today, Fasmicro is the only African company in the Intel Programmable Microprocessor business as a certified and authorized partner. What I requested was an x-factor to open that world for my company!

Main Case: He was named Nehemiah and his ancestors had dedicated a Temple around 10th century BC to Yahweh. But Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed it during the siege of Jerusalem. He grew up, and rose to become one of the most important men in Persia (in modern Iran): a cup-bearer to Artaxerxes, king of Persia, and later, the king made him a governor of Persian Judea. And he was to rebuild  the Jerusalem wall.

To rebuild the wall, he needed an x-factor. The king asked him to put in his request: he asked to use the  timber from the king’s forest. In imperial Persia, the king’s timber went with the king’s builders and security.  The wall was rebuilt within 52 days. If Nehemiah had used any timber that was different from timber from the king’s forest, he would have failed. 

Simply, any project that received timber supplies from the king’s forest was as good as executed. And only the most important projects qualified. As the aides shipped the timber, the guards would follow, making sure that none was wasted. Another set of guards would monitor compliance. That was why as the wall was being rebuilt, the soldiers fought the enemies – and the project was executed on time. Did you notice the Nehemiah’s x-factor? Cheap sheet: the timber from the king’s forest.

As the New Year arrives, think deeply about your x-factor for success in 2023.