The President of the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST) Mrs. Olusola Abosede Adesokan has appealed to the Ministry of Science and Technology to support her bid for a legal framework for the Institution so as to standardize food industry in the Country. Adesokan, made the appeal when she led the executive of the Institute on a courtesy call on the Minister of Science and Technology, Chief (Mrs) Grace Ekpiwhre in her office at the weekend. She said the enactment of such a legal framework would checkmate unprofessional practices as well as encourage healthy competition amongst the competent professionals.

According to her, the experience of NAFDAC and other relevant government regulatory agencies has demonstrated the effectiveness and efficiency of such bodies in regulating and monitoring the activities of the professional associations. "The current advances in food production such as biotechnology and genetic engineering especially the emerging world of genetically modified foods cannot be left in the hands of untrained professional in the industry" she said. Adesokan, who enumerated the contributions of her Association to the socio-economic development of the society, posited that such body should be encouraged to contribute more to food security through regulatory authorities.

While calling on the Government to expedite action on the proposed draft copy of enabling bill forwarded to the Ministry for scrutiny, the Institute's President stressed the need to ensure that post-harvest losses are reduced for a sustainable development, adding that if spoilage of agricultural products are completely overcome, the country would have doubled the available food for consumers.

Responding, the Minister of Science and Technology, Mrs Grace Ekpiwhre assured the Institute of Government's support in establishing a regulatory body that would monitor and guide their profession, adding that the role of the Institute is of paramount importance to the economy and the ministry will give them necessary support. She advised the Institute to streamline its guidelines and regulation to avoid duplications of responsibility by other relevant bodies in the industry.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mrs Patricia Etteh has declared that turning around the nation's science and technology sector is the surest guarantee of positioning Nigeria as one of the top economies by the year 2020. Etteh who spoke at inauguration of the House committee on Science and Technology which has Hon. James Baitachi as Chairman, maintained that Nigeria , being a highly endowed country, is supposed to be one of the richest and most developed countries on earth, pointing out however that a conspiracy of factors is making such difficult to realize.



The Speaker said "Being a highly endowed country, Nigeria is supposed to be one of the richest and most developed countries on earth. But a conspiracy of factors has negated the realization of our full potentials. "One of the major factors is the lack of enduring science and technology policy. In the world now dominated by astonishing phenomena in the areas of science and technology, it is time to retrace our steps and align our country along these contemporary trends", she said. She charged the committee to review the existing legislations concerning science and technology with a view to seeing how the sector could be strengthened for efficiency and effectiveness.



Her words: "You are expected to explore all means necessary to propagate a science and technology culture that is development-oriented. If the review of our school curriculum at all levels of our education will bring the desired transformation, I urge you to explore the possibility". The Speaker similarly urged the committee to explore the possibility of setting up a science and technology endowment fund, stressing that the proposed fund could serve as an intervention framework in the areas of scholarships to science-inclined students at all levels of education, funding research projects and boosting inventions.



The proposed technology endowment fund, she further reasoned, would help to motivate science teachers and reversing the brain-drain syndrome that has beset the sector as well as procuring modern scientific equipment for our institutions of learning and research institutes. While assuring the committee of the solid support of the House, Etteh pointed out that the proper funding of the science and technology sector needs not be overemphasized

“Sub-Saharan Africa will fail to halve absolute poverty by 2015 unless it opens its economy to foreign investment and reduces its dependence on high commodity prices, the UN said Wednesday. In its annual [Economic Development in Africa] report on the continent's economy, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) also said African countries must find a larger share of needed investment domestically in order to protect their economies against financial shocks.

The report - entitled Reclaiming Policy Space - said Sub-Saharan states should ‘reclaim’ their developmental role by diversifying foreign direct investment. …” [Dow Jones/Factiva] AFP writes that “…UNCTAD said Africa should make greater use of its resources by bringing the large ‘informal’ sector worth an estimated 45 percent of GDP into the economic mainstream. …

The report warned that capital flight was also sapping domestic resources. About $400 billion in capital has flowed out of Africa since the 1970s, while its debt burden is about $215 billion, said Samuel Gayi, an UNCTAD economist. …Governments should also consider a temporary amnesty to allow capital to be repatriated and create investment opportunities that would attract money from Africans living abroad, it added. Tax revenues in Africa account for just 16 percent of GDP, half the portion harnessed in developed nations, UNCTAD said.

To mobilize hidden domestic resources, it suggested better tax collection which could double revenues from direct taxes in some countries, public finance reforms and better use of remittances from African workers abroad. …” [Agence France Presse/Factiva]. Xinhua notes that “…The report said if capital flight is controlled, there could be sufficient funds to be used for domestic investment to help create jobs and provide a boost to incomes of large segments of the population that are unemployed or underemployed.

The issue is further compounded by the limited effect government revenue is getting from the introduction of broad based taxes, most of which are consumption taxes like Value Added Tax. … Facts suggest that there are potential sources of domestic finance that could, if properly mobilized and efficiently invested, over time reduce significantly African aid dependence by providing alternative development resources, the report claimed. …”

The United States' new African military command structure – Africom – will neither base nor deploy U.S. forces on the African continent, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for African affairs, Teresa Whelan said Thursday. Whelan was speaking at an American Enterprise Institute conference in Washington, D.C. She said that apart from the "forward operating site" which the U.S. Defense Department had been operating in Djibouti since 2002, "we will have no bases… and we will not be deploying U.S. forces on the African continent." However, Africom as a command structure "will have a presence… in the form of staff officers" throughout Africa, she added. Nevertheless, "no more than 20 percent of the entire command will actually be physically present on the African continent."



Whelan also noted that a significant percentage of the command staff would be civilians from other departments such as the U.S. State Department, the Treasury, the Department of Commerce, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. The conference, entitled "Africom: Implications for African Security and U.S.-African Relations" brought together experts from the United States and Africa. Conference participants addressed recent criticism of Africom, including a recent statement in which South African defense minister Mosiuoa Lekota said the Southern African Development Community was opposed to hosting Africom. "We don't want to be any place that doesn't want us," Whelan said, but having staff based on the continent would help manage the "tyranny of distance" that results from being out of touch with activities on the ground. "The biggest concern of the DOD [Department of Defense] is not how to get involved in Africa, but how to stay out of Africa," Whelan said.



Linda Thomas Greenfield of the State Department said Africom will help address multi-faceted security threats in Africa, including "terrorism, wars and internal instability, the presence of militia, transport of narcotics and arms, religious intolerance, corruption, and poverty." "Africom is not about dropping military troops on Africa," she added, or "competing with China." The announcement of Africom has been met with skepticism in Africa, and retired U.S. Air Force General James L. Jamerson of the Lockheed Martin Corporation acknowledged that "the key is acceptance in Africa" but that "we have a ways to go."



Lieutenant General Tsadkan Gebretensae of the Center for Policy Research and Dialogue in Addis Ababa said the skepticism is “legitimate” and warned that African and American security priorities are not necessarily the same. General Tsadkan warned against a “huge military presence” that could “bring [back] memories of colonialism.” It would be best to “go slow” and “build trust,” he said. Former World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz said the announcement of Africom “took me completely by surprise.” He was, he said, “still not absolutely convinced that it’s a good idea, but it is there and I believe it can be made into a good thing,” citing the “success story” of the United States’ part in peacekeeping in Liberia. Wolfowitz addressed African skepticism to Africom by noting that “it wasn’t Africans themselves who brought all this horrible conflict to the subcontinent… the U.S. and the Soviet Union had a fairly big role in supporting their various allies in the Cold War.” He said the effects of U.S. support for former Congolese President Mobutu Sese Seko provides a “fairly understandable” reason for African reluctance to see the American military on their soil.

China plans to plough at least $ 5 billion into rehabilitating infrastructure and mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo in what would be one of its most ambitious ventures in sub-Saharan Africa, Congolese officials on Tuesday said. In an initial phase, the Chinese would be repaid in copper and cobalt, Viktor Kasongo, Congo’s Deputy Mines Minister told the FT. But the deal, a draft of which was signed on Monday, also envisages concessions in nickel and gold, and repayment from tolls on railways and roads yet to be built.



Existing mining contracts and concessions held by foreign groups would not be affected, Kasongo said. …If the funds are disbursed, they would make Congo one of the top recipients of Chinese investment in Africa as Beijing drives to secure mineral and other commodities to fuel its booming domestic economy. …” [The Financial Times (UK)]. BBC News adds that “…A first phase of $3 billion will finance big transport infrastructure projects in the DRC including a 3,400km highway between the northeast city of Kisangani and Kasumbalesa on the border with Zambia.



There will also be a 3,200 km (2,000 mile) railway to link the country's southern mining heartland to the main Atlantic port of Matadi in the west. …

A further $2 billion is earmarked for rehabilitating the crumbling mining infrastructure and setting up joint ventures in the mines sector. …” [BBC News (UK)]. Reuters notes that “… ‘This agreement will allow us to carry out important large-scale projects,’ Congolese Infrastructure and Public Works Minister Pierre Lumbi told Reuters. …If fully disbursed, the loan will be one of the biggest Chinese financial commitments on the African continent. …The $3 billion infrastructure segment includes plans to build 31 hospitals, 145 health centers, and two universities. …

This emerged from a recent UNCTAD report on economic development in Africa. The report urges African states to make use of domestic financial resources in ensuring economic development of individual countries. It says this approach can achieve sustained and higher rates of economic growth and will reduce dependence on overseas donor funding. The report further says that most African countries have vast reserves of domestic resources but which are still under-utilized. The UN report calls for the establishment of what it describes as a "developmental state," which is an approach to governance and economic progress, which has resulted in phenomenal growth in several Asian nations.

By using developmental states approach, governments actively manage economic policy to encourage greater diversification and job creation. This is done while avoiding over protectionism or interventionism and further strive to increase domestic financial resources as a fuel for growth. South Africa is on course to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), including halving the number of people living in poverty by 2015, says the country's Cabinet.

The eight MDGs are to:

· Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

· Achieve universal primary education

· Promote gender equality and empower women

· Reduce child mortality

· Improve maternal health

· Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

· Ensure environmental sustainability and

· Develop a Global Partnership for Development

Cabinet's assertion came ahead of the 62nd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and the Security Council (UNSC) Sessions in New York, US, where the progress towards the achievement of the MDGs will form part of the agenda. UN member states agreed to reach the MDGs by 2015.

Catholic charities and other humanitarian agencies say over 1.5 million people in sub-Saharan Africa have been hit by raging floods and are in urgent need of help. The network of Catholic charities, Caritas Internationalis, said countries affected range from Mauritania in the west to Kenya in the east, including Burkina Faso, Togo, Ghana, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. Caritas has launched emergency appeals to respond to the needs of the people in Uganda and Ghana. In Uganda, where the government has declared a state of emergency, flooding has affected 300,000 people. And with no let up in the heavy rains, that figure is expected to rise.

Caritas Uganda's communications officer Vincent Sebukyu said, "The situation is terrible. People have been forced from their homes on to higher ground. Now, even that has been washed away. Many of the areas are completely cut off from outside help. People can no longer move."

At the same time, United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) teams are fanning out across sub-Saharan Africa bringing in helicopters and boats where necessary to help the flood victims. "Funds, especially cash, are urgently needed," WFP said after appealing for nearly USD 65 million to feed flood victims as well as refugees and other displaced people in Uganda for the next six months.



West Africa is experiencing some of its worst floods in 10 years, affecting 500,000 people in 18 countries, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. In Togo, 60,000 people are in urgent need of food assistance, according to preliminary assessments, but the figures could be higher as information from inaccessible areas is being collected. Heavy rainfalls in the north have washed away a significant portion of cultivated land and destroyed over 30,000 houses as well as six dams. In Ghana, it is estimated that 75,000 people are in urgent need of aid including food, clothing, blankets, cooking utensils, canoes or boats, mosquito nets and water purification tablets.

In Mauritania, floodwaters covered most of the city of Tintane in August, destroying public and private infrastructure. There are also thousands of flood victims in Mali and Niger. In Sudan, 500,000 people have been directly affected by floods, at least 200,000 are homeless and 113 people have died. Since July, torrential rains have caused flash floods in the east and south. Across Ethiopia, food aid has started for more than 60,000 flood victims amid some overcrowding in temporary shelters and threats of an outbreak of water-borne diseases. Floods in the north, west and south have affected some 183,000 people. In Rwanda, torrential rains in the northwest have killed 15, damaged homes in at least 10 villages and left 7,000 people homeless, while in Kenya, lowland floods in the west have reportedly displaced 1,700 families. In the arid and semi-arid lands, heavy rains have cut road access in the Samburu region in the northeast.

This is an exciting time for Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa as a region is experiencing its best economic performance in 30 years. Many countries continue to excel as they record historically high economic growth rates and impressive economic stability. The global economy has been expanding steadily over the last five years. The major emerging market economies are leading the way, and most regions around the world continue to participate in the rising trend. While the recent financial market turmoil has cast a shadow on the global outlook, our assessment is that while it may well put a dent in the global expansion, it should not derail it. We expect the global economy to remain strong, growing at about 5 percent in 2007 and 2008.

In this environment, Sub-Saharan Africa continues to experience its fastest economic expansion in three decades. Over the last three years, growth has remained between 5 and 6 per cent. This is attributable in part to the supportive external environment, but also to strong domestic investment and productivity gains supported by sound economic policies in most countries. All across the region, countries are using increased resources from commodity exports, debt relief, and private inflows to raise spending in pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In the East African Community (EAC) as a group, economic growth has kept pace with broader sub-Saharan African growth since 2002, and has even exceeded it in the past two years. This is especially noteworthy, considering that growth in the EAC countries has been propelled not so much by foreign demand as by improved economic policies and reforms.



The IMF expects growth in sub-Saharan African to accelerate to well over 6 per cent in 2007 and 2008. While oil-exporting countries will drive much of this acceleration, non-oil producing low-income countries will also contribute. Growth in the EAC should rise even further, to about 7 per cent in 2007 and 2008. Of course there are risks to this positive outlook, including that of an unanticipated strong slowdown of the global economy, or of lower access to financing due to the ongoing re-pricing of risk in global financial markets. Aid flows could also fall short of expectation, especially as so far the promised scaling-up of aid from international donors has not fully materialized.

Despite these risks, the current expansion gives Africa a unique opportunity for development. The challenge now is to sustain and broaden the growth momentum, building on a virtuous cycle of reform, stabilization, and growth that seems to be emerging in the region. A dynamic private sector is key to raising and sustaining growth, reducing poverty and integrating the region into the global economy. In bringing this about, the public sector has a pivotal role to play in establishing an environment conducive to private sector activity. Achieving this will require maintaining economic stability, investing in infrastructure, strengthening the financial sector and public institutions, and liberalizing business regulations.

Developing human capital, alongside infrastructure, is important too. Stronger efforts to improve health and education are critical to this objective. The importance of private sector development is also recognized in the new UN sponsored MDG Africa Working Group to accelerate African countries' progress toward the Millennium Development Goals. To address the pressing development needs, a strengthening of public financial management and governance is needed. To speed improvements in these areas, the IMF and the World Bank have started joint pilot projects in a number of countries. Strengthening public financial management and governance not only helps to make the most out of limited resources, it also helps unlock aid and attract investors.

However, experience shows that higher aid and spending create new challenges, both to preserving economic stability and to external competitiveness.

Since foreign financing alone may not raise investment to the level needed to achieve development goals, countries must also put more emphasis on developing the local financial sector. This would help boost domestic savings and increase the private sector's access to financing. In tackling impediments to economic growth, the IMF has maintained close ties to the East African Community. The Fund's concessional lending under its Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility remains an important resource for many low-income countries. This is complemented by other facilities as well as technical assistance. However, not all low-income countries necessarily want or need IMF financial assistance. As countries' needs change, the IMF has naturally adapted to meet these needs. Accordingly, the Fund's emphasis is shifting from financing to policy support.



The Policy Support Instrument allows the Fund to address the needs of low-income countries that seek IMF advice, monitoring, and endorsement of their economic policies but not Fund financial support. Two EAC members, Uganda and Tanzania, are among the countries making use of this facility.

The IMF has also quite dramatically increased its capacity-development assistance over the last five years to EAC countries, and its East African Regional Technical Assistance Centre, now about to mark its fifth year, has been instrumental in this regard. The IMF realizes that going forward, more needs to be done, beyond economic stabilization, for EAC countries to move toward middle-income status. The IMF will remain a committed partner to sub-Saharan Africa and the EAC as they continue to progress toward realizing their economic ambitions. The writer is the Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Opinion by By Takatoshi Kato

Mozambican President Armando Guebuza on Friday called on young Mozambicans to take the lead in the struggle against the lethal disease AIDS. Speaking at the opening session of a National Youth Meeting, Guebuza pointed out that the highest rates of HIV prevalence were to be found among young adults, and so it was in this age group that "we must continue to act resolutely, where we must be more aggressive than the virus, and faster than the spread of infection". The President declared that every Mozambican could do "more and better" in the fight against the epidemic. He urged his young audience to serve as an example for other young people, alerting them to the dangers of the disease, which is now regarded as a serious threat to national development. "We must multiply and diversify preventive actions in the schools, in the fields and pastures, on the fishing grounds and in offices, in our residential areas, in religious gatherings or in places of leisure", said Guebuza. "HIV/AIDS is not someone else's problem. It's a problem for each and every one of us".

The meeting is taking place under the slogan "For a healthy and responsible youth: Don't let hope die !". It has been organised jointly by the Ministry of Youth and Sport, the National AIDS Council, and the National Youth Council, and about 500 young people from across the country are attending. Over the three day meeting, the participants will assess how the recommendations from the "Presidential Initiative in the Fight against AIDS" (launched by Guebuza himself in February 2006) have been implemented. Among the matters under discussion are how to prevent the disease, mitigation of the effects of AIDS, sexual and reproductive rights, stigma and discrimination, and the role of religion, culture and sport in the fight against the epidemic.



Guebuza stressed the importance of making sure that the messages used in the fight against AIDS are appropriate, in form and content, to Mozambican reality. When the Presidential Initiative was launched, he recalled, "we concluded that it is urgent and imperative to make Mozambican every aspect that can ensure that messages on HIV/AIDS are more effective, and will provoke the changes in behaviour we all desire". This strategy would involve the greater use of African languages, rather than relying on the official language, Portuguese, and would also involve influential local figures in the campaign at grass roots level.

Seven-year-old Assatou has been selling grilled plantains at a busy junction on the outskirts of the Liberian capital, Monrovia, for two years. "My family can't afford to send me to school," she says with a sigh. "So I learned how to cook plantain instead." Under a new education policy, parents or guardians of children like Assatou will soon face fines or even be arrested for allowing their children to sell in the streets during school hours. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in early September announced the measure, which is said to be aimed at increasing school enrolment and curbing child labour.

However, the announcement is drawing criticism from local rights activists. "We're not satisfied with the new [measure]," Joseph Harris of the Liberian children's rights group FOCUS told IRIN. "Imposing fines or arresting guardians is not the way to handle the problem of children working on the streets... The issue is due to complex economic and social factors. It needs to be solved rather than put under the carpet." Parents say they would much rather put their children in school than to work, but they have no choice.

The Education Ministry says the policy, which will be phased in gradually beginning with the coming academic year, is intended in part to reduce child trafficking. Children are lured from the counties to Monrovia on the promise of education only to wind up as hawkers on street corners. "Children are not breadwinners," said Hawa Gol Kotchi, deputy minister of education for information. "They should be in school, not working on the street." Gol Kotchi said the move was part of a drive to meet a Millennium Development Goal to have all children enrolled in school by 2015. "It's based on common sense. We noticed a large number of children working on the street, and this is a good way to get them into school."

Compulsory but not free?

However, implementing the new policy is likely to prove difficult, particularly given that Liberia's justice system is weak. "Once the new law comes into force, the police will have to launch a mechanism to inform children and their parents why they are being arrested," Alvin Jask Kanneh, deputy commissioner of the Liberian National Police, told IRIN. "And of course there is the issue of clashes with the police. Parents may refuse to comply," he said. He added: "Many children don't know their age or don't have birth certificates. That will be another hurdle in the process."

Liberia's much-hyped Free and Compulsory Education legislation - supposed to enable every child aged 5 to 11 to attend school free of charge - has been on the books since 2004, but is yet to be fully implemented. Local human rights groups say the measure to punish non-school-attendance would be premature. In parts of Monrovia there are not enough classrooms for every school-age child so many parents are forced to pay as much as US$200 a year to send their children to private elementary schools, and they also have to buy uniforms, books and pens. A police officer in Liberia can make $150 a month, a vegetable vendor up to $30. Unemployment stands at about 80 percent.

Mixed views

The rights group FOCUS said that unless the government measures were backed by practical action to provide free education for all children, the move would backfire. "Parents do not take pleasure in reducing their children to perpetual peddlers," FOCUS said in a statement in Liberia's The Analyst newspaper. "It is a measure of poverty and desperation." Charlotte Kaicora, the headmistress of a private school in downtown Monrovia, said she believed many parents would resist. "Most of the children selling on the street on behalf of their parents are in low economic groups... Whether it can be implemented... I don't know." Her view was echoed by a group of women gathered at the busy ELW junction on the outskirts of Monrovia. "I want to send my daughter to school but I don't have the money," Lauren Jalloh, who makes around US$20 a month selling fruit and vegetables, told IRIN.

David M. Johnson, a father of four, also said Liberians were not ready for such dramatic measures. "Everyone wants their children to be able to go to school," he said. "But until the state can provide free tuition for everyone it will be impossible." Many children cheered when they heard the new government announcement. "If we don't go to school, we don't learn," 12-year-old Patience told IRIN. Some children, such as 10-year-old James, have to compromise. He works in the mornings and attends school in the afternoons.

Mohammed Kamara, a taxi driver, said having children in school would be good in another way. "Children make money by wandering among cars selling chocolate, sweets and water. But children are so small, and truck drivers don't always see them... there are many terrible accidents on the streets." The Education Ministry's Gol Kotchi said officials are under no illusions about the difficulties of implementing the new measure, emphasising that it would not take effect immediately. "We're not going to collect all the children working on the street right this minute," she said. "We're slowly doing more assessments and renovating our teacher training institutions," she said. "These are all measures we are taking in preparation for a full-scale free and compulsory education system."