Africa Plea for Debt Cancellation – Femi Gbajabiamila

Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila has said African speakers are pleading for debt cancellation instead of relief.

While hosting the Conference of Speakers and Heads of African Parliaments (CoSAP) in Abuja, Gbajabiamila said the Speakers and Heads of African Parliaments are pushing for total debt cancellation by creditor-nations as opposed to debt relief or review.

Compared to debt review or relief, Gbajabiamila told his colleagues that “in the case of the latter, the debts would still be outstanding, except that there would be some alterations, adjustments or even postponement of the repayment schedules.”

“We want to reset our buttons to read from zero. That is the position, and I appeal that we all support this push,” he stated.

Other members of the parliament also supported the Nigerian lawmaker’s idea of cancellation urging one another to improve on their oversight functions to monitor the executive arm in spending loans of their countries.

The Country Representative in Nigeria, World Health Organisation, Dr Walter Kazadi Mulombo, gave the first plenary topic of the day, titled “Financing Africa’s pandemic Response: Legislative Imperatives and Interventions,”

Chairman of the occasion, speaker, National Assembly, South Africa, Rt. Hon. Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, noted that this would help the countries to “reset the button to zero,” meaning they had no debts outstanding against them.

Other members of the parliament said countries that secured debt reliefs, the parliaments must inquire about the spending of loans gotten from foreign countries.

Seek vaccine production in Africa

Gbajabiamila also recommended putting aside a certain percentage of the health budget for vaccine research and manufacturing by African nations.

The Speaker also recommended the establishment of an African Centre for Vaccine Research and Production and advised that the joint centre could be located anywhere on the continent,

“Where all African countries could contribute to its development,” he said.