By Moses Uwagbale
The African Union (AU) Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) has resolved to work closely with Nigeria and the organised private sector, to address economic challenges in the country..
ECOSOCC is an advisory body of the AU, designed to give Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) a voice within AU institutions and decision-making processes.
Mr Aziemethe Omoh, Head of Economic Affairs Cluster Committee of the AU-ECOSOCC, disclosed this in an interview with NAN, on the sidelines of the committee’s inauguration on Saturday in Abuja.
According to him, there are always economic challenges in every nation, just like Nigeria, but the committee will review the organisation’s measures to tackle such.
“Our idea is to build on the blocks that the preceding generations have built, but our approach will be different.
“Our goal is to think out of the box, in terms of reviewing the way things have been done, which unfortunately has impacted on most parts of Africa.
“We want to review economic challenges with a private sector eye and to do things differently and, even more professionally, we will also partner with government and bring our private sector`s experience to bear,’’ Omoh said.
According to him, AU-ECOSOCC will work closely with the government and try to make more appreciable impacts on society within a short period.
“This appointment will not be forever.
“Therefore, within the stipulated period, we want to progress by moving the agenda of Africa forward and impacting positively on Nigeria economy.’’
He said that the committee would partner with many local and international private sector economic consultants to explore best practices.
Omoh said the committee decried a situation whereby Nigeria is portrayed as a poor country in the world, adding that more would be done to deviate from the past.
“India used to have more population, five or six times the size of our population, yet they were able to lift the majority of their people out of poverty.
“We will seek collaborative support from relevant sectors of the economy; we will look at the agenda of government seriously.
“We know government means well, so we will find ways to work with them because Nigerian government is also a signatory to all the AU treaties,’’ NAN quotes Omoh as saying.
“We will also explore the policies, treaties and vision of AU with Nigeria government, but with a private sector eye to achieve targets.’’
