COVID-19: NESG holds webinar on govt, private sector post-pandemic engagement

The Governance and Institutions Policy Commission (GIPC) of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) held a webinar with the theme “Government and Private sector engagement in the times of the COVID-19 Pandemic and beyond,” recently.

NESG Board member and CEO Kainos Edge, Mrs Wonu Adetayo, while delivering the opening remarks, said that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been far-reaching.

She said the experience has shown it is vital for the government to produce accurate, useful, and up to date information to people who will help inform decision-makers better and guide in the creation of effective policies.

Mrs Adetayo also revealed that the pandemic has allowed the government to look at technology utilisation, which was effectively utilised during the lockdown.

She said NESG hopes that strategic deliberations will produce outcomes that will facilitate much-needed engagement between the government and the private sector.

Founder, Africa Initiative for Governance (AIG) and co-chair private sector of the session, Mr Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, said the GIPC leverages on over 20 years of NESG work to create a focus and emphasis on governance and institutional reforms.

He revealed that they are working on several workstreams focused on strengthening partnerships between the public and private sectors.

Mr Aig-Imoukhuede stated that the pandemic has strained the government’s resources and had far-reaching effects on people worldwide.

He revealed that African countries have benefitted from the lowest infection rates worldwide and that Nigeria has coped well with the medical side but still struggles with the economic and social effects.

Aig-Imoukhuede revealed that serious pandemics require multi-generational responses and should be approached as a marathon battle.

“The global response has seen the health industry getting engaged globally by governments and the private sector and coming to the fore with vaccines, and it’s not surprising that beyond the initial emergency response, the real issue lies on the economic and social side where we continue to suffer from social unrest which can be linked to the trauma of COVID-19 which ignited a grand nature of negative trends including double-digit inflation and unemployment,” Mr Aig-Imoukhuede said.

He stated that the challenge is to have an effective broad-based public-private partnership with evidence-based data, which emphasises capacity delivery, experience, tools, and technology to respond to economic and social challenges effectively.

He said that it was important to scale up to multi-stakeholder partnerships between the public and private sector on the vulnerable groups and ensure proper strategic deliberations that give responsibilities to certain people in government.

The keynote speaker and special adviser to the Vice-President of Nigeria on economic matters, Dr Adeyemi Dipeolu, said that it was clear that the pandemic presented several challenges, and all sectors of the economy need to work together to ameliorate the social, economic fallouts.

“No one thought we would be battling 3rd or 4th wave, and it shows we have a new normal, and we must use vaccinations and other health measures to tackle the virus while continuing with our lives. Government and private sector can work together to provide information and guidance.

“Virtual and digital platforms came to the rescue, a situation with a key lesson that can tackle many of the developmental challenges through a robust adoption of digital technology,” he stated.

Dipeolu said that it has become clear that technology has to be used to strengthen accountability and bring people closer to the government, especially considering that the private sector rose to the occasion with tech-enabled solutions, provisions of facilities and PPEs.

Vice President Aide said that in response to the economic fallout of the recession caused by the pandemic, the federal government responded with an economic sustainability plan to save jobs, boost local production and help businesses stay afloat and the process brought about an MSME support fund and a pool of data to guide policymaking as we advance.

He reiterated the need to look at other key areas of interventions, including cooperation to strengthen the civil service, which will lead to increased productivity, utilization of data protection tools, capacity building and digitization.

Furthermore, Dr Dipeolu stated that it was pertinent that Nigeria adapts and aligns with the 4th industrial revolution, as the country needs manufacturing to grow the economy faster and that the private sector must help shape the outcomes of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) agreement, revealing that there are existing opportunities for collaboration for the provision of facilities such as power, rail, roads and broadband infrastructure.

During the panel session, Dr Emmanuel C. Meribole, Permanent Secretary in the office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, said that at the beginning of the pandemic, the private sector collaborated with civil service from awareness creation, logistics support and providing knowledge and skills that have necessitated a change in approach to work.

He revealed that Standard Operating Procedures are being developed in the office of the Head of Service of the federation with support from the African Initiative for Governance to help digitise the civil service and make it more professional.

Meribole revealed six pillars in the plan to make the civil service more effective, including capacity building, performance management, Integrated personnel Payroll system, digitization of government practices and staff welfare, amongst others.

Director, Africa Initiative for Governance (AIG), Mrs Ofovwe Aig-Imoukhuede, said that the AIG signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the civil service and has been deliberating on contributing to the development and growth of the service. She reiterated the need for Private sector entities to collaborate and bring their resources to bear in the nation’s development.

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COVID-19: NESG holds webinar on govt, private sector post-pandemic engagement

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