 Good morning and a warm welcome from Geneva. We're really delighted to have Vice President Ozin Bajo of Nigeria with us and to share his insight on important emerging issues in Nigeria, Africa and the world. Mr. Vice President, I'm so delighted to welcome you back following the very successful country strategy dialogue we hosted in November with you. The discovery of Omicron variant late last year is of course a reminder that the world is still not out of the woods when it comes to the pandemic, which may negatively impact the world economy and widen inequality if we fail to implement a global response. Looking at the growth in sub-Saharan Africa and the fact that this forecasted to reach 3.6% in 2022, while this growth rate is significantly below the pre-pandemic levels, the good news is that Africa's potential remains undiminished. Over the next three decades, the global population is set to grow by about two billion people with one billion of those coming from the African continents. Africa will have the world's fastest growing working age population with a considerable potential for highly productive, fast-growing economies and many of the young Africans are so tech savvy. So that looks good and indeed Africa's rapid economic and social change will give the continent a bigger role in global affairs and the global economy and of course Nigeria plays a major role here. Mr. Vice President, many of foreign partners and global viewers are highly interested in your vision for the year ahead. Mr. Vice President, the floor is yours and we're so happy to welcome you back. Thank you very much, Mr. Board Friend. Distinguished participants, ladies and gentlemen, the health and economic crisis caused by the pandemic clearly slowed down progress in many areas. But as the world emerges slowly from the health and economic crisis caused by the pandemic, a number of important lessons have been learned. Most obvious lesson of course is that it has proved impossible for individual countries to contain the virus as long as there are outbreaks in other parts of the world. Similarly, we learned that disruptions in supply chains in one part of the world inevitably affect other parts of the world and those are quite sound obvious, but I think it was driven home very powerfully, especially in the last few months. There's a lot of regrets therefore that in spite of increased collaboration in terms of sharing knowledge and scientific information around the virus, the world has been unable to arrange coordinated global response to ensure the availability of vaccine for all. Similarly, although past experience would have cancelled the need for coordinated action in response to the global economic shock caused by the pandemic, responses were mostly at the individual country level with the effect that efforts to stimulate economic activity through fiscal and monetary policy actions and health sector interventions were uneven across the world and in the case of Africa, the country is very adequate. Nevertheless, like most parts of the world, Africa is beginning to recover, the continent grew by 3.7% last year and is set to grow by 3.8% in 2022. Indeed, as the last frontier in development, Africa has the potential to become the factory of work, especially given its bold steps to integrate through the Africa Union agenda 2063 and the African Continental Free Trade Area agreements. There are several other reasons, I think, to be positive about the African growth story, given that its large youth population holds the prospect of a demographic dividend and also by giving greater space and providing more opportunity to the private sector, the continent is also making giant strides in agriculture, manufacturing and digital technology. In Nigeria, for instance, six unicorns have emerged in the past six years and this is despite all of the challenges in these past years. Such a positive outlook, anyway, must be tempered by the realization that Africa continues to need the collaboration and partnership of the international community because unless care is taken, there are a number of developments that can derail that promise and I'll just mention a few of those. The first is peace and security. African countries face a serious threat of terrorism arising from the encroachment of global terror groups and their franchises into Africa and as the pandemic has shown, we live in an interrelated world. So the international community must not sit by and allow Africa to be overwhelmed by terrorists, be it in the Sahel, the Horn of Africa or indeed Southern Africa. It's imperative for the international community to make more robust interventions to clear terrorists from Africa, just as it did in the Middle East and other parts of the world. The United Nations Security Council must find unanimity in working with and assisting African countries to eradicate the menace of terrorism in the continent once and for all. A bit like the coronavirus, terrorism anywhere is a threat to peace everywhere. I must not allow geopolitical tensions amongst the great powers, prevent Africa from getting the help it needs to combat terrorism. The second is climate change and how we respond to it. It's now common knowledge that Africa contributes least to climate change but has been the most negatively affected by it. We must not allow this warring situation to be compounded further by global inaction and processes and rules that make it difficult for Africa to adapt to climate change or indeed to develop. This is why the international community must meet its pledge recently reaffirmed at COP26 of providing 100 billion US dollars annually in climate finance to support climate change efforts in developing countries. Although we in Africa are working towards a globally accepted net zero future, we're also conscious that our energy needs are increasing with the growth in our economies. We need to ramp up energy access in response to this situation, which is why the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energies must be just and fair. We're emphatic in our view that natural gas which Africa has in abundance must be accepted as a transition fuel. Moves in the international community, especially by development finance institutions to defund gas projects will have severe implications in the medium to long term for African economies and will slow down the process of phasing out more polluting fuels such as coal, diesel and heavy fuel oil in addition to some of the more polluting fuels that are currently used. But also in addition to climate finance, African economies continue to require systems to tackle poverty, to access vaccinations and achieve dex sustainability. Economic recovery in Africa is contingent on the containment of the pandemic, including through widespread vaccinations. Right now, less than 10% of African countries have vaccinated 40% of their population. The reality is that due to resource constraints, there will be a relatively low slow rollout of vaccinations in Africa and four national rollouts may take several years. Yet vaccinations remain essential because the mutation of the virus and the emergence of variants means that we cannot rule out another way which might be even more deadly than the relatively mild Omicron. The international community must accordingly support Africa with the resources including vaccine doses that will assist in making vaccinations available to all. Of course, there are also the issues around African countries being able to produce their own vaccines. And that is entirely possible with cooperation, especially around intellectual property issues and patent issues as well. The fourth challenge is that African countries or other challenges that African countries will have fiscal challenges arising from their limited revenues and the spending that they made in stimulus packages to improve health facilities to provide support to businesses and assist vulnerable populations. Given that there is limited scope for raising additional revenues until growth resumes, it remains important to provide liquidity for African economies. The creation of the $650 billion in new special joint rights last year was a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done to enable African and other developing countries to access the SDIs that are not needed or being used by developed or emerging economies. It's also clear that public debt vulnerabilities will dominate macroeconomic policy management in Africa over the next few years. The World Bank recently estimated that the world's poorest countries will face an increase of nearly $11 billion in debt, in debt repayments in 2022, an increase of over 45% from last year. Such huge repayments at a time of limited resources increases the risk of defaults and all that go with that. The various debt relief initiatives such as the Debt Service Suspension Initiative and the Common Framework for Debt Treatments have their place, but they must be adequate to tackle the problem at hand and implemented in a manner that will not further constrain the resolution of growth in African countries, nor resort in the exclusion from international capital markets. In spite of our potential, African countries are grappling with a variety of challenges and we need partnerships that help to tackle climate change, address security concerns, promote economic prosperity, combat disease, and improve governments. With regard to governments, we've recently seen incidences of whose data and unconstitutional changes in government, which are a direct threat to the democratic ethos that we've all begun to take for granted on the continent. The African people and their leaders have been unequivocal in condemning and sanctioning these disruptions of democracy and the international of democracy. And I believe that the international community must support our efforts in this regard. For instance, in Mali, where there are the military hunters and sisters, on a lengthy transition was rejected by the economic community of West African states with the imposition of exceptional sanctions on that country. But sanctions require the bite of international support and we're glad that the European Union has aligned itself with these measures and we urge the rest of the international community, especially the United Nations and international financial institutions, to support our efforts. This is another area where geopolitical tensions should not be allowed to work to the detriment of Africa's democratic objectives as contained in the constitutive act of the African Union. Despite the dark clouds of the past two years, there are still many civilizing. We've realized our capacity to adapt to change, the importance of public health institutions and international cooperation, and we have a chance to reflect critically on future pathways to prosperity, to health and happiness. The future may seem uncertain, but I believe we have better equipment mentally and physically to face it with hope. Thank you very much for your kind attention. Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Vice President, for that very powerful speech. There is a lot of interest in this dialogue with you. I have some questions, but we also have very many African leaders listening in. One of our Board of Trustees members, Patrice Motsepa, is also with us and we, of course, all would like to know, see how the economic development is going in Nigeria, is a very large economy. We are expecting growth back this year. I wonder, Mr. Vice President, what are the investments that are needed in your country to revive again substantial economic growth and an inclusive growth? Yes. Okay. Thank you very much. I think, first, we, I'm sure that some may know that we recently launched our new economic development plan, which is to take us to the next four years. And key features of that plan is the focus on the private sector, on the private sector and how the private sector must move from just the rhetorical engine of growth to the major factor in growth. So we're going to be focusing a great deal on value addition and productivity. And we're going to be focusing also on ensuring that the private sector is, as it were, unleashed to be able to do what is required to do. That would involve to a very good extent reviewing foreign exchange policy, ensuring that we allow markets to play a greater role in foreign exchange policy. And of course, that we believe will be important for foreign investments, and of course, also for local investments. So we very strongly are looking at areas of technology, as I mentioned in my speech, and in the past six years, we have seen tremendous growth in the technology area. We have six unicorns. I mean, in the past six years, these, as you know, businesses that have valuations over a billion US dollars. And despite all of the constraints and two recessions in six years, we've had these companies coming into their own. So we think that technology is getting very big in terms of investment. We're also, of course, looking at investment in infrastructure and infrastructure, of course, roads, rail, power. And we have started, we've initiated a fund, infrastructure fund, which really is one that we were hoping will catalyze a lot of the investments, a lot of our investments in agriculture and infrastructure. We're also looking at manufacturing and the value chain. And we're looking at, you know, various investments in these areas. But the key, really, the key for us is what the private sector needs to contribute. As a matter of fact, in our economic development plan, we expect that the overall requirements, the overall financial requirements to achieve our aims will be something in the order of about $348 trillion. Of that $348 trillion, we expect that the private sector, the public sector, will contribute 14%. And the private sector will contribute 86%. So we're really betting heavily on our private sector, on the private sector, which is why creating the enabling environment for the private sector to thrive is priority for us in every way. Thank you so much. That's extremely both inspiring and reassuring. Mr. Vice President, you also alluded in your speech that the search in Omicron really has stressed the need for global cooperation on vaccine equity and pandemic preparedness. At 67th session of the UNGA, President Buhari joined other world leaders calling for a more equitable global distribution of vaccines against COVID-19. And I wonder, how can the international community ensure vaccine equity and support vaccine manufacturing in Africa for the domestic market? How can global cooperation really ensure the sequencing of associated policies and pandemic strategies to combat future outbreaks? I think we now have to walk the talk on what was agreed at the UN. Yes, I agree with you. I mean, I think it's time to walk the talk. As you know, of course, the vaccine access has posed a serious problem for African countries and most countries have set me under 10%. Most African countries have less than 10%. Those who have had two shots, let alone boosters or any such luxury given the number of, given the vaccine access. But I think that a few things can be done by the global community. First, especially if we're going to look at improving the chances of African countries being able to manufacture vaccines locally, we of course have to look at issues around patent rights, intellectual property rights, and of course, exclusivity rights generally. And we have to look at relaxing those rights. Patent waivers, intellectual property waivers will be important. These are proved to be a problem now. I mean, no one seems to be making much progress in that respect. But we can't really talk about African countries being able to produce their own vaccines if we don't address those important structural problems. I think that could very easily be done. But before we get to all that, I think that what has happened so far has been encouraging. I mean, many countries have made donations and some quite generous to countries that do not have access to vaccines. But I think that there is a need for much more global cooperation. I think it was an important, I think the OECD, I think it was the executive secretary of the OECD that said that all that's required to vaccinate the whole world. There's something in the order of about 50 billion U.S. dollars. And I think that that is affordable for the world where we to choose to vaccinate the whole world. And this should not be a situation where we allow things to, where we allow things to slip through the cracks. We simply must be looking at a global solution to this particular pandemic and then to think in terms of global cooperation for the future. And even the most optimistic amongst us know that there is a real threat that some worse pandemic may actually be following us. So I think that this is a good time to test global will, global resources in order to determine whether or not we are prepared for this and perhaps even for the future. But I must say that COVAX and other vaccine alliances, global vaccine alliances have done excellently. And their role as mediators in the relationship between the wealthier countries and poorer countries is a very good one. And I think that they really should be encouraged. Thank you. Thank you. Another big challenge that you also mentioned in your speech is, of course, climate change. And climate change is also hitting Africa quite severely. At the UN climate change conference in Glasgow, President Bahari made a strong commitment on behalf of Nigeria to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2026. And I wonder what are some of the challenges you're faced now by oil and gas dependency and going through such a transition in achieving net zero. And how can the World Economic Forum and its business partners also be a partner in this transition and also in attracting renewable energy investments? Yes. Again, I think President Bahari's affirmation of our commitment to net zero emissions by 2060 is important. And because not only does it show the commitment of Africa's largest economy and most populous nation, but also he pointed out the need for global cooperation. And I think the most important aspect of our cooperation is in ensuring that we're able, that we're supported for adaptation purposes and all of that. And really what it is, is that for many African countries, especially the gas rich African countries, one of the biggest shocks is the notion that fossil fuels, including gas, should be defunded, especially by international finance, by international finance institutions. We think that gas as a transition fuel is absolutely crucial, not just for effective transition, but also for our economies. I think that we are faced with two challenges, the climate change challenge and of course economic development. And so for us, the gas as a transition fuel is completely, it's without doubt the only pathway. So this is why for us it's important that we are able to continue to attract gas investments and the demand that we use gas for purposes of being able to transit to from some of the more hazardous fuels, such as coal and heavy, heavy, some of the heavy fuels, heavy oil and all of that. And we think that unless this is, unless we are assisted in ensuring that this is done, of course, we may suffer not just from the climate change, not just from a deficit in our promises for climate change, but more importantly, in economic development. So for us, renewable energy, of course, is absolutely important. And we have several major, we have several major schemes, programs around renewable energy. As a matter of fact, one of the major parts of our economic sustainability plan is the connection of five million homes to solar power. And that, of course, was rolled out in the past 12 months. And we intend to achieve those targets, which means, of course, that we will require more investments, especially for renewable energy. And we think that the World Economic Forum and our partners can be helpful in attracting renewable energy, renewable energy investments in Nigeria, especially the manufacture, for instance, of solar panels and components of several of the solar equipments. And we think that there's a unique opportunity now with the program that we're implementing, which is the solar connection for five million homes in the first phase. We think the opportunities are there. And we're also providing some debt for those who wish to do business in that particular respect or wish to invest in renewable energy in Nigeria, especially as part of this program. So we think, well told, there is a, on our part, there is a commitment to ensuring net zero emissions by 2060. But we also think that that should be matched with an equal commitment to ensure that the economies of countries like ours do not suffer on account of the transition, on account of the transition to net zero. But I also want to mention that we're probably the first country at least most certainly in Africa to actually develop an energy transition plan and to cost that energy transition plan that we've done. And we're about to launch that plan in the next couple of weeks. So there is a great commitment to climate change, but we think there's a need also for looking at how to support adaptation and how to support a meaningful and just transition to net zero by 2060. Well, thank you so much for these very thoughtful answers and also underlining that adaptation will have to be part of the answer, also financing, and also the fact that in the transition natural gas can be a bridge from a fossil fuel-based society into a more renewable based society. And we also know that there are 700 million people on our planet that are not connected to modern electricity. So how to decouple this energy growth from growth in CO2 emissions. Mr. Vice President, again, it's been such a pleasure having you with us. Your, as I mentioned, thoughtful answers and your leadership is highly appreciated. And I'm really thankful for your contributions that you could join us and I'm looking forward to seeing you very soon. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. And thank you for all you do. Thanks very much indeed. It's been a pleasure being with you. Thank you. I would also like to thank my team that has made this possible to happen, our Africa director, Chido, and also Nantle that have worked very well with your team. So Mr. Vice President, have a great weekend and thank you for joining us. Thank you. You too. Thank you.