Africa Faces A New Dawn

Many things are changing fast as a result of the Coronavirus or Covid-19 pandemic that took humanity by storm in 2020. The number of deaths, especially in the developed countries which curiously have some of the best health infrastructure, frightened the world. Preventives measures such as self-isolation and total lockdowns of national frontiers across the globe did not only frustrate people who found themselves unable to travel, it equally struggled the global economy with experts saying that the damage caused by the pandemic is equivalent to taking the annual growth rate to some 25 years behind expectations. 
Before the health crisis, globalisation trends were gradually exposing a level of protectionist attitude from certain rich countries which functioned as if they could do it all alone to the exclusion of others. Unfortunately for such countries, it is evident that international solidarity is the best way to tackle global threats. 
Working within this background and following conclusions of the Paris Summit on economic revival after the Covid-19 pandemic, leaders from 30 countries in Africa and Europe, including President Paul Biya of Cameroon, published a joint declaration on Thursday 3 June, 2021 calling for a New Deal for Africa`s development. While noting that collective action by all nations of the world has been producing positive results in terms of combating the disease, President Paul Biya and his peers have equally insisted that Africa be given the possibility to produce vaccines in the continent. This is important because Africa has defied apocalyptic predictions to stand its grounds against the virus by putting in place measures that have limited the mortality rate from Covid-19.      
Another way forward for Africa to take advantage of the distortions created by Covid-19 is to ensure that financial institutional bases in the continent are strengthened to permit Africa to face her own development challenges. Although the death toll from Coronavirus has been less in Africa, that must not call for complaisance in upgrading health infrastructure. Instead, as the signatories to the document argue, healthcare facilities, public and private sector investments, and large scale financial support to the private sector in Africa are some of the ways that the continent could be made to stand her grounds in case of future disasters.     
Recent estimates by the In...