ACBF’s $1.3 m : CBN officials, ministries, others to benefit
As part of effort to have better gender-responsive economic policy management and budgeting in West Africa countries, workers of central banks, ministries of finance and economic planning and other public sector bodies in Nigeria, Ghana; Sierra Leone; Liberia and the Gambia, would benefit from the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) grant valued at $1.3 million.
The five Africa countries that are the member-states of the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM) are to use the ACBF’s fund to finance regional training workshops, seminars and studies in financial and economic management and for the dissemination of outputs on economic and financial governance issues in the West African sub region.
ACBF, which is the African Union’s specialized agency for capacity development on the continent, recently awarded the grant valued at $1.3 million in Abuja, Nigeria.
In a statement by the Senior Communication Officer, ACBF, stated that the five West Africa countries are expected to use the grant to consolidate and expand the scope of its activities within the next eighteen months.
But the Executive Secretary of the ACBF, Prof. Emmanuel Nnadozie, said, “In the midst of a global financial and economic downturn with potential for grave consequences for African countries, many of whom are aid dependent, the relevance of institutions such as WAIFEM cannot be over-emphasized.”
He said, “I am particularly happy to note that the current phase of support to this Institute has components that would devise programs to respond to emerging issues in the global economy and their impact on sub-regional member countries.”
As the continent’s premier agency for developing human and institutional capacities, ACBF has in the past 17 years, provided financial support totalling more than $8 million to WAIFEM for its activities. With the new grant, the support has increased to about $10m.
In his own remarks, the Director General of WAIFEM, Prof. AkpanEkpo, said ACBF’s assistance over the years has enabled the institute to train more than 16000 people in various areas of finance and economic management staff of the five member states.
“The mission of the Institute is to develop on a sustainable basis the expertise in the field of macroeconomic, debt and financial sector management” among the staff of central banks, government departments and agencies in member countries, Prof. Ekpo said.
While giving this renewed grant to WAIFEM, ACBF has once recognized the key role played by its partner – the African Development Bank (AfDB) in making available the needed resources for the concerned programs.
ACBF, was established in 1991, and expected to builds human and institutional capacity for good governance and economic development in Africa.
To date. the Foundation has empowered people in governments, parliaments, civil society, private sector and higher education institutions in more than 45 countries and six regional economic communities.
Motolani Oseni
