Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan and the Chinese Premier, Mr. Li Keqiang, will Thursday formally declare open the 24th World Economic Forum for Africa (WEFA), taking place in Abuja, the Nigerian Federal capital city.
PANA reported that preceding the opening session will be a plethora of other sessions which will all hold at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel from Thursday morning.
Some of the sessions would proffer solutions to Nigeria’s education challenges and how the education system can deliver a competitive academic workforce; seeking solutions to developing collaborative networks; funding research and innovation and retaining and attracting entrepreneurs.
Simultaneously, there is going to be another interactive workshop on industries for impact which will be seeking solutions to how African industries can realize the aspiration of moving up the value chain.
The session is expected to map up current industries landscape in Africa, discuss key barriers to upgrading and also define innovation agenda.
The session featuring the two special addresses by the Nigerian and Chinese leaders will be Chaired by Mr. Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum.
It is expected to focus on unlocking job creating growth and attempt to solve confounding development where Africa is the World’s second fastest growing region, yet only one in four Africans hold stable wage-paying jobs.
The plenary would feature amongst others, the President of Rwanda (Paul Kagame), and Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote. They are also billed to proffer solutions to how the continent’s growth strategies can be more inclusive.
Chairman of the Executive Board/Chief Executive Officer of Heineken and co-chair of the WEFA, Mr. Jean-Francois Van Boxmeer, Wednesday spoke of the great prospects in investing in Nigeria because of the high rate of return on investment.
Van Boxmeer said the gains of investing in Nigeria was more than the imagined fears of insecurity.
He, however, advised Nigeria entrepreneurs to emulate the enterprising spirit of Alhaji Aliko Dangote to invest or expand their investment in the Nigerian economy.
According to Van Boxmeer, “our operation in Nigeria is the second largest in the world after Mexico and we know where the successes exist. We have been in this country for so many years and the potentials that are here are much more than the international reputation of the country.”
