Chairperson, African Civil Society Network on Water and Sanitation Mrs Doreen Wandera has said diarrhoea remains a major killer of children under-five years in sub-Saharan Africa.
Wandera told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the disease was largely due to consumption of unsafe water and poor hygiene culture.
Quoting a 2016 WaterAid Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Watch, she said deliberate efforts should be made by all governments in Africa to prioritise access to water and sanitation.
The chairperson described as sad a situation where by 650 million people around the world lived without access to water, a development she said made people consume unsafe water to survive.
She said the region had 15 years to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) six.
According to her, SDGs envision universal, sustainable, affordable and equitable access to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and hygiene.
‘‘We call on African governments and ministries to proritise WASH as fundamental in the implementation and achievement of the SDGs.
‘‘As a civil society group, we understand that for the development of Africa, particularly regarding the health and dignity of our people, requires demanding action from our governments.
‘‘Only by prioritising and achieving the global goal 6 on water and sanitation that we will see the change we want and we recognise that we have a long way to go.”
Wandera also called for increased domestic resource mobilisation to achieve sustainable service delivery to leave no one behind.
The chairperson also called on all countries to progressively reduce inequalities arising from accessing water.
The African Civil Society Network on Water and Sanitation is a coalition of CSOs working to scale up access to water and sanitation in the region.
It works through advocacy and coordination to influence governments’ decisions to keep to the promises of meeting the Africa Water Vision 2025 and the AU’s Agenda 2063 of managing water resources effectively.
Tag: Sub-Saharan Africa
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‘Diarrhoea still kills children in sub-Saharan Africa’
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RenCap names sub-Saharan Africa consumer research team
Renaissance Capital (RenCap) has announced the appointment of Adedayo Ayeni to its sub-Saharan Africa research team.
Ayeni joined the firm to oversee its industrial and consumer coverage in the sub-Saharan Africa universe, working in close collaboration with the already strong Renaissance Capital analyst team across the continent.
He reports to Michael Harris, Head of Research, and Temi Popoola, Chief Executive Officer for Nigeria. Ayeni has over seven years’ experience of analysis across the Sub-Saharan Africa consumer sector, and has been ranked by Bloomberg among the top analysts covering leading regional companies.
Prior to joining RenCap, he spent over a year at Banco Português de Investmento (BPI) Capital Africa in Cape Town as an Equity Research Analyst, where he covered regional cement producers and the broader consumer sector.
Previously, he was at CSL Securities for over four years, where he was instrumental in building up the consumer franchise, as well as initiating the company’s coverage of the palm oil industry. Before this, Mr. Ayeni was Senior Economic Research Analyst at Financial Derivatives, an economic research and consultancy company based in Lagos. He holds a degree in Economics from Babcock University and an MBA from the Lagos Business School.
Temi Popoola, Chief Executive Officer for Nigeria, commented: “We are very pleased that Adedayo has joined our Sub-Saharan Africa team. His extensive experience and insight into the regional consumer and industrial sectors will ensure that our analysis remains at the forefront of Sub-Saharan Africa research. This appointment illustrates Renaissance Capital’s ongoing commitment to enhancing its Sub-Saharan Africa client offering.” -
Nigeria, third in world with poor sanitation access – Report
Nigeria is the third country in the world and the worst in Sub-Saharan Africa where most urban dwellers live without a safe private toilet, the latest report on State of the World Toilets for 2016 has said.
According to the report by WaterAid, a renowned international organization that focuses on improving access to safe water and sanitation in towns and villages, 58 million people in Nigeria out of the 700 million urban dwellers around the world live without basic sanitation.
It said: “The problem is so big that 13.5 million people living in Nigeria’s towns and cities have no choice but to defecate in the open using roadsides, railway tracks and even plastic bags dubbed ‘flying toilets’. Nigeria also ranks top in the countries falling furthest behind in reaching people with urban sanitation.
“For every urban dweller reached with sanitation since 2000, two were added to the number living without, an increase of 31 million people in the last 15 years.”
The Country Representative of the agency, Dr. Michael Ojo, noted that adequate sanitation could create jobs and prosperity directly and indirectly, adding that there exists a potential market of more than $2.6bn in sanitation.
Ojo stated that by increasing access to sanitation through stimulating needs via sanitation marketing and responding to existing unmet needs, untapped business opportunities would open up.
“WaterAid’s State of the World Toilet 2016 report also focuses on some of the jobs that are created when the challenge is addressed head-on,” Ojo said.
The report further noted that an investment in improving access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene was probably the most effective investment Nigeria could make to grow its economy and better the lives of its people.
On other findings, the report stated that India ranked top for having the greatest number of urban dwellers living without safe private toilet and put the number of persons in this category at 157 million.
“It is also a world leader in having the most urban dwellers practicing open defecation – 41 million,” the report noted.
It said war-ravaged South Sudan, the world’s newest nation, is the worst country in the world for urban sanitation by percentage, adding that 84 per cent of dwellers in its urban centres had no access to a toilet and every other urban-resident practiced open defecation.
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World Bank lowers sub-Saharan Africa growth forecast
The World Bank yesterday cut its forecast for gross domestic product (GDP) growth for sub-Saharan Africa to 4.0 per cent this year from 4.5 per cent it was last year.
The global lender blamed the fall in oil and other commodity prices for its action.
Its Vice President for Africa, Makhtar Diop, said in spite of daunting challenges, the subregion was still experiencing growth, adding however that a need for structural reforms has arisen.
“Despite strong headwinds, sub-Saharan Africa is still experiencing growth …. The end of the commodity super-cycle has provided a window of opportunity to push ahead with the next wave of structural reforms,” the World Bank said in a statement.
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Group grows sub-Saharan Africa Fund by $698m
GLOBAL assess managers The Carlyle Group raised $698 million for its new sub-Saharan Africa Fund, exceeding its initial target by 40 per cent.
The group is a global asset management firm, specialising in private equity. The firm views Ghana, Tanzania, Botswana and Benin as attractive places to allocate capital, in addition to its initial investment anchor countries of South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya. It forecasts that the new Fund’s portfolio at exit will be a mix of buyout and growth capital investments, in 15 countries across the region.
The bank was a cornerstone investor and played a crucial role by investing $50 million at an early stage in the fundraising. “Private sector investment is one of the key ingredients in this continent taking charge of, funding and managing its own development destiny. This success shows another route through which the world can invest in Africa, a new global growth pole,” said Donald Kaberuka, AfDB President said.
Managing Director and co-head of the Sub-Saharan Africa advisory team at the Carlyle Group, said Marlon Chigwende said the firm is one of the first global alternative asset managers to launch a dedicated Sub-Saharan African fund and we are grateful for the support of our fund investors, who share our belief that Sub-Saharan Africa offers many investment opportunities.
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Ecobank deepens sub-Saharan Africa market
Sub-Saharan Africa is a place of great paradoxes.
There is an admixture of crushing poverty and staggering wealth.
No doubt, poverty is pervasive, human development is low, and growth has not been all-inclusive. The region faces an enormous infrastructure deficit, while the investment climate and regulatory environment are relatively poor. There are still weaknesses in governance and institutional capacity.
The pervasive poverty index and infrastructure deficit notwithstanding, significant differences exist among individual countries, and those that have seized the opportunity and implemented far reaching reforms are now harvesting better results.
Arising from the reforms introduced in some countries, noticeable results are beginning to be felt across the continent, and the effects are being noticed. Over the last 10 years, real economic growth in the region has averaged five to seven per cent per year, consistently above the world average. Some of the fastest growing countries in the world have been from sub-Saharan Africa.
Pundits say the difference between a hard place and paradise for Sub-Saharan Africa will be made by the quality of leadership, knowledge and financing available.
Only 10 per cent of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population has access to financial services. Reliance on financial channels increases both the transaction costs and risks to low-income consumers.
Seeing these challenges as an opportunity, Ecobank has developed innovative financial products targeted at Africa’s unbanked and underbanked populations.
Ecobank’s business model is focused on delivering commercial success, while at the same time contributing to economic development and financial integration. It has developed and implemented a common sustain-ability framework that focuses on driving economic transformation, promoting socially-responsible financing, attracting and retaining human capital, and protecting natural resources.
Ecobank’s “One Bank” concept —with its uniform technology platform, universal branding, and common policies across branches, enables continued expansion into new markets while providing all customers with a consistent, high level of service.
Key impacts
• Ecobank deepened financial access and grew its customer base to 9.1 million through its partnerships with 200 microfinance institutions, mobile banking platforms, and Rapidtransfer offering.
The bank’s $11 million investment in employee training supports local talent development and helps achieve operational efficiency.
Performance framework and growth
By offering targeted products to the unbanked and underbanked populations of Middle Africa through alternative delivery channels, Ecobank expands its market share and customer base while increasing access to financial services. The bank provides innovative loan products to individuals, small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs), and underserved segments of the agriculture value chain through its relationships with development banks and nonprofits.
Recognising that microfinance was an untapped market opportunity, Ecobank established a strategic partnership with five established microfinance institutions to build a regional platform that met the needs of the target market. In Ghana, Ecobank partnered with microfinance and microlending organisation Accion to provide 70,000 previously underserved customers with access to formal banking services through a system of seven branches, two satellite kiosks, 100 ATMs, and a team of 185 roving agents.
Ecobank’s Rapidtransfer and Regional Card products are providing innovative solutions to Africa’s rural and diaspora populations. Rapidtransfer enables diaspora customers to quickly and safely transfer funds to relatives in their home countries. From 2010 to 2011, the new technology increased volumes by 106 per cent, from $385 to $794 million.
Using Ecobank’s Regional Card, customers can affordably access their money at Ecobank branches across 32 countries of operation. Both products help to grow Ecobank’s customer base, while expanding access to financial services for historically-underbanked consumer segments.
Through its commercial business, Ecobank helps drive business growth that indirectly provides jobs and improves livelihoods. For example, last year, it partnered NEXIM Bank to provide nearly $1 million in working capital loans to cashew processors in Nigeria.
This enabled an increase in processing capacity from 8 to 20 tons daily and doubled the workforce.
Through its investment banking arm, Ecobank achieves impact by strengthening the region’s banking sector. In 2011, it operated as the lead arranger for the issue of a $216 million, five-year, six-per cent-coupon sovereign bond on behalf of the Republic of Chad.
Value chain
Ecobank has more than 23,000 employees who collectively support over 100,000 people across 32 countries. Prioritising workforce development, Ecobank invested over $11 million in training and development, ensuring that all employees receive a minimum of 40 hours of training per year. In addition, leadership programs develop local talent to fill senior management positions within the bank. Such programs contribute to employee effectiveness and loyalty, and enhance operational efficiency.
Corporate Governance
Ecobank strengthens the local business environment and facilitates growth by promoting high standards of transparency and accountability through its Group Corporate Governance Charter and sustainability framework.
The bank has a significant multiplier effect across its large geographic footprint. In 2011, it redistributed $295 million to customers through interest paid on savings and other deposit accounts, and a further $1.01 billion through taxes, salaries, and payments to suppliers, generating local economic growth and benefitingthe bank by increasing customer deposits and loans.
Supporting busineses
Since 1993, Ecobank has maintained a strategic partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) that leverages both organisations’infrastructure and capital resources to increase the region’s access to finance, support small business growth, and, indirectly, strengthen Africa’s banking sector. Last year, IFC invested a further $100 million in Ecobank to help the company scale up in key markets, strengthen its capital base, and expand its operations across Africa.