Juliana Taiwo
11 July 2009
L'aquila, Italy — Leaders of the G8 (Group of Eight) industrialised countries at the end of their three-day summit in L'Aquila, Italy, yesterday pledged $20 billion in farm aid to developing countries facing food crisis.
In reaction, President Umaru Yar'Adua applau-ded the $20 billion pledge, but called on the G8 leaders to fulfill their past and present pledges of developmental aid to developing countries in Africa and other parts of the world.
The $20 billion food and aid deal also includes significant steps to make progress on the effectiveness of aid for agriculture.
The package was among the high points of the G8-African breakfast meeting held before the close of the 2009 G8 Summit yesterday.
During a media briefing, American President Barack Obama said the meeting provided an opportunity for leaders to find a common ground, "but had not solved all the challenges before them."
Obama said: "This food security issue is of tremendous importance. We have over 100 million people who dropped into poverty as a consequence of this recession and it is estimated that one billion people are hungry around the world.
"So, wealthier nations have a moral obligation as well as national security interest in providing assistance and we have got to meet those responsibilities
"The flip side is that countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the world that are suffering from extreme poverty have an obligation to use the assistance that is available in a way that is transparent and accountable.
"There is no reason why Africa cannot be self-sufficient when it comes to food security."
G8 leaders had promised in Gleneagles in 2005 to increase annual aid by $50 billion by 2010, half of which was meant for African countries.
However, some aid agencies present at the meeting were of the view that some members of the G8 had gone back on their word, especially this year's G8 host, Italy.
According to Max Lawson of Oxfam, Great Britain, "the G8 in 2005 promised $25 billion extra for Africa by 2010 which is next year.
"About 12 months to go we have seen none of that money, which is not what they promised. We think this summit has been a complete shambles.
"Silvio Berlusconi is a joke; he had his chance and we think he could have done far much better."
Also addressing a press conference at the media center, Otive Igbuzor, Actionaid representative in Nigeria, expressed disappointment with the G8 leaders, insisting that their actions failed to realise that in the past three days while the meeting was on in L'Aquila, about one million people slipped into hunger.
"We are aware of the challenges of food crisis and over the past one year, an additional 100 million people have slipped into hunger bringing the number of hungry people in the world to a record one billion.
"Out of this, 250 million of them are in Africa and 53.6 million of them are in Nigeria. The challenge is that from last year till now, 275,000 people go into hunger every single day which means that for the past three days we have been at this G8 meeting, about one million people have slipped into hunger, which shows the urgency of the food crisis.
"We welcome the commitment of G8 leaders to make the food security issue top on the agenda but the pledge of $20 billion over three years is not sufficient to deal with the challenges of the food crisis that is ravaging the world," he said.
Meanwhile, in a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity, Olusegun Adeniyi, Yar'Adua said the pledge made by the G8 would boost food production efforts in poorer nations, but stressed that African leaders were concerned that previous pledges had not been fulfilled.
"Nigeria values the African Outreach Session of the G-8 which started in 2000 and we also acknowledge the various commitments that the G-8 has made to our continent over the last decade.
"While we appreciate these commitments which indicate the willingness to build an enduring partnership between the developed and developing countries, we are concerned that we are yet to see the fulfillment of some of these pledges even as concrete actions have become more urgent due to the impact of the current global economic crisis.
"On our part as African leaders, we are determined to make those difficult choices that will enable us deal with the complex challenges facing us because we recognise that the responsibility for peace and development in Africa rests squarely on our shoulders.
"Some of our efforts are, however, being eroded by the prevailing global economic and financial crisis. That is why we are calling on the G-8 to, as a matter of urgency, fulfill all past and present commitments to Africa," President Yar'Adua said.
The G8 meeting also took a firm stand against the Iran nuclear programme, with the first two days of the summit spent focusing on the economic crisis, trade and global warming.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
