Giant strides of New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).

Commentary by Janet McDickson.

African leaders realized that a greater percentage of Africans live below poverty line, while majority do not have access to drinking water, health facilities, basic education and other basic infrastructure, hence the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) was conceived when African leaders, at the beginning of the 21st century, resolved to take responsibility and ownership of the development of their people without dictates from outside the continent.

NEPAD is therefore, a pledge by African leaders, based on a common vision and a firm, shared conviction that they have a pressing duty to eradicate poverty and place their countries, individually and collectively on a part of sustainable growth and development and to participate effectively in the world economy.

NEPAD, which was adopted by African Union (AU) in July 2001 in Lusaka Zambia is a programme of reformation in governance and of building capacity for the continent to reverse the ugly trend of poverty, disease and under development by changing the existing relationship of the continent with the developed world.  Simply put, the primary objectives of NEPAD are eradicating poverty, promoting sustainable growth and development, integrating Africa in the world economy and accelerating the empowerment of women.

Out of the 54 member states, Nigeria is among the 33 countries that acceded to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM); an assessment system voluntarily adopted by the member states of the African Union for mutual assessment of their governance practices and development policies.  Nigeria had done the first country review and is in the process the second review.

It is interesting to note that there are similarities between the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan and the NEPAD sectoral priority areas. NEPAD programmes by design are built to accommodate all levels of government in order to impact positively on the lives of the people.

In order to comply with the agreed terms, and to promote the developmental projects of the transformation agenda, which this administration champions, , the Special Adviser to the President on NEPAD, Ambassador Fidelia Njeze, on assumption of duty in February, 2014, had taken steps to revitalize the office for optimal performance.

The strategy adopted to reposition the office within the shortest time was the invitation by NEPAD Nigeria to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) to visit NEPAD Nigeria to assess and possibly assist in repositioning the office.  This prompted the visit of UNECA officials in July, 2014 and subsequently in November, 2014.  On the first 3 day working visit, the UNECA delegates arrived NEPAD Nigeria on 29th July, 2014 and this visit led to the production of a work plan that would assist NEPAD Nigeria actualize its objectives.  Actions taken by NEPAD Nigeria after the first visit include: general and specialized training of staff in the office; building relationship with other NEPAD country offices, Government agencies and development partners; a study tour to NEPAD, Kenya which was a peer learning exercise for NEPAD Nigeria staff to broaden their knowledge of the implementation of NEPAD mandates at the country level; approval for NEPAD Nigeria to access the Climate Smart Fund, being managed by NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA); among others.

On the second visit which lasted for one week, the team of three experts worked to deliver on the aspect of the implementation of UNECA/NEPAD Nigeria action plan in the following areas: revitalizing sectoral clusters and organise quarterly meetings between NEPAD actors and international partners to adopt common work programme and joint activities; implement strategic initiatives at the level of advocacy, information sharing, coordination, reporting, monitoring and evaluation; develop a communication strategy that establishes clear objectives and create a versatile and responsive team with required skills and equipment that can operate across a wide range of mediums; create a network of NEPAD focal points at the national level, charged with sharing information on NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA) and NEPAD Nigeria publication; and developing the modality for a high level seminar on NEPAD and Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) in collaboration with the United Africa Institute for Economic Development and Planning (UNIDEP), during NEPAD week in Nigeria.

The leader of the UNECA team to NEPAD Nigeria, Mr. Adeyinka Adeyemi, after a weeklong interaction with staff of NEPAD Nigeria and focal point officers and State coordinators, presented the report of his findings.  He said that “at the General Assembly, a decision was taken that NEPAD is the entry point to all developments in Africa; while pointing that African Presidents at the African Union Assembly agreed that NEPAD secretariat should be in all the African Countries.”

Mr. Adeyinka Adeyemi also disclosed that NEPAD is expected to collaborate with partners that are interested in Africa’s development and transformation by coordinating and planning all regional development frameworks.

For NEPAD Nigeria to get it right in the near future, and for proper collaboration with stakeholders, five (5) clusters are to be used.  They are: agriculture and food security; climate change and natural resource management; regional integration and infrastructure; human development and political, economic and  corporate governance.

The Chief Executive of NEPAD Nigeria, Amb. Fidelia Njeze expressed the wish to have all stakeholders, state coordinators, focal point officers in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA’s) and NEPAD Nigeria staff, to work assiduously to bring the development of Nigeria to the front burner.

Janet McDickson is the Head of Media/Information Unit of New Partnership for Africa’s Development, Nigeria.