Aruma Oteh’s 60th Birthday & Book Launch Of ‘All Hands On Deck’
KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, IMMEDIATE PAST VICE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AT ARUNMA OTEH’S 60TH BIRTHDAY AND BOOK LAUNCH FOR ‘ALL HANDS ON DECK’ IN THE SAÏD BUSINESS SCHOOL AT OXFORD UNIVERSITY, UNITED KINGDOM ON THE 23RD OF JANUARY, 2025
PROTOCOLS
I am deeply honoured to have been asked to make these keynote remarks as we celebrate my sister and dear friend Arunma. Her commitment to public service, her integrity and above all, her kindness, and generosity to all, make this occasion of her 60th birthday special to so many, which is why many here have flown halfway across the world just to say happy birthday to this exceptional lady. So Happy birthday Arunma!
To start off the conversation this afternoon, I will be speaking for a few minutes on the theme, ‘Better Leadership for a Better World: Leadership, Women, Africa, Sustainability and Capital Markets.” To make this simpler, the focus is on how to build a better world through stronger leadership, greater female participation, sustainable practices, and the role of Africa and capital markets.
Leadership is of course the common thread in the theme and I would like to make my conclusion even as I begin. The prospects, complexities, volatility, and uncertainties of our world today demand more than just politicians, businesspeople, professionals, or activists. The world needs statesmen, not mere leaders, men and women that will think and act not just for their countries or spheres of influence, but for all. Leaders whose minds are not stranded in today but who have the vision and compassion to think and act with the best interest of the next generation in mind.
Why is this type of leadership crucial? Let us take the climate crisis, to paraphrase Rachel Cleetus, the policy director of the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, the world has only about five years left at current emission levels before it exceeds the carbon budget projected to keep temperature increases below 1.5 degrees Celsius, and based on carbon budget figures in a recent UN emissions report, humanity can only generate greenhouse gases at current levels for roughly another 22 years before breaking the budget for keeping temperatures below 2 degrees celsius.
But current data shows that 10 of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels are among the largest issuers of drilling permits in the past 12 months — and huge blocks will come up for bidding over the next months. And President Trump on Monday promised to drill baby drill! This is while across the world, the climate crisis rages, from unprecedented wildfires in California to Cyclone Freddy wreaking havoc in Mozambique, Malawi and Madagascar. But perhaps more importantly for this conversation is Africa’s place in the climate crisis. Despite its relatively negligible emissions, Africa is warming faster than any other region. Africa has the highest incidence of drought and the second highest incidence of flooding. The Horn of Africa has been facing its worst drought in 40 years, with five consecutive failed rainy seasons since 2020, with prolonged droughts in Kenya and Somalia.
West Africa has been experiencing intense flooding, especially in Nigeria, Niger and Ghana – in 2022, Nigeria experienced its worst flooding, killing over 600 people and displacing 1.3 million. In North Africa, heat waves and water scarcity in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. It is evident that there is no way of resolving the climate crisis, replacing our fossil fuel-driven economies with renewable energy without climate statesmanship; leadership that thinks for all not just a region or country, because clearly the task in hand is global and not national or regional.
But if the way we handled the last global crisis is anything to go by, then we should be concerned. Many are still in shock by the vaccine nationalism of wealthier countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and had COVID hit Africa harder than it did, the fatalities from the pandemic would have resulted in a public health tragedy on a scale never before seen in human history.
The leadership we require today knows that if you are not your brother’s keeper, you will eventually find that you can’t keep yourself either. Today it is apparent that if Africa were to develop along the same carbon-intensive trajectory as the global north to attain middle to high-income status, it would be impossible for the world to attain its net zero objectives.
Why? Africa will be pumping 9.4 gigatonnes of Co2e annually into the environment and by 2050, Africa will be responsible for 75% of global emissions. The only way that the world can stand a chance of achieving its net zero objectives is if Africa shows leadership by pursuing a Climate Positive Growth path to its development.
The good thing is that Climate Positive Growth makes economic sense for Africa: we are climate competitive, so this is also a pathway to address our other existential crisis, extreme poverty. Again, leadership is key, if we recognise that Africa can be the nemesis or the solution to the climate crisis, there must be a consensus on how to support the continent with the investments, debt relief and open markets that would enable it to become the first green industrial civilisation.
This would involve a great deal of statesmanship, for example, we know that decarbonising energy-intensive industries such as steel is critical to achieving global carbon neutrality targets. Steel accounts for 8% of global emissions but greening steel production would mean large-scale use of green hydrogen and cheap renewable energy, neither of which are available in the major industrial centres of Europe. The alternative for European steel production is heavily subsidised decarbonisation of iron and steel production if the traditional iron and steel manufacturing locations are to continue as usual. But why do that? Europe’s North African neighbours have both green hydrogen and cheap renewable energy in abundance.
Industrial partnerships would yield great results for sustainability and cost competitiveness for European steel. But because this may involve a shift in the geography of some aspects of steel production away from traditional locations, bold, courageous and forward-thinking leadership will be required. Let me speak briefly on Africa’s strategic importance for global economic growth.
If nothing else, the facts and statistics show that either in the short, medium or long term, global investors must take Africa into account in their investment decisions because, by 2050, 40% of human beings on earth will be Africans.
Africa has the largest number of fast-growing frontier economies and the largest untapped renewable energy. The continent’s potential wind power generation is 461 gigawatts – that is equivalent to over 50% of the world’s total wind power capacity. Today, Kenya derives nearly 90% of its power from geothermal energy and it has 10,000 megawatts of geothermal energy potential. Africa has over 30% of the world’s critical minerals and over 65% of global uncultivated arable land. It is the fastest-growing continent for technology adoption and has the youngest and fastest-growing workforce, and is now the largest free trade area by a number of participating countries in the world – 54. 1.3 billion people, combined GDP of $3.4 trillion.
But to fully unleash its potential, we all know that this will require African leaders prioritising governance reforms, dealing with corruption, especially in procurements, focusing plans on policies on infrastructure development, and investment in education and healthcare. And of course, speaking with one voice. But also, is the other elephant in the room: appropriate and sufficient finance and investment. That would involve addressing structural challenges such as excessively high cost of capital and a sovereign debt crisis. Africa faces its worst debt crisis in 80 years with almost half of African countries now allocating more resources to debt servicing than development, obviously, comprehensive debt relief will be key to strengthening the ability of these countries to support their own growth and transformation. We must also double down on efforts for global financial architecture reform, including the expansion of MDB balance sheets through SDR reallocation and other interventions.
A reform of the global financial architecture is a recognition that the world is a vastly different place since Bretton Woods, and a more equitable, more fit-for-purpose architecture is required, and it would mean some initial discomfort for those who were the biggest beneficiaries of that order. Only statesmanship can deliver that.
I had a sneak preview of Arunma’s “All Hands on Deck”, the book that we will be unveiling presently, and was struck by an observation she makes on the crucial role of capital markets. Let me paraphrase her: “Over the course of my career, I have become convinced by empirical evidence that the great differentiator between societies that work and those that do not, between countries with high standards of living and those in desperate want, are well-functioning capital markets. Especially world-class capital markets, which, if properly regulated, support businesses to grow, accelerate wealth creation, enhance people’s living standards, engender good governance, and ultimately catalyse national transformation.”
I think the observation is both insightful and throws a challenge, the challenge of inclusivity and access. Yes, world-class capital markets are great but how will the vast majority, especially in developing countries, access the markets and benefit therefrom? Financial education is clearly the answer, financial education is critical for the functioning and growth of capital markets because it enhances market participation and empowers individuals, investors, and businesses to make informed investment decisions, and financial education of women in particular is crucial and connects to the broad theme of women’s economic empowerment, which as we know is the linchpin of gender equality, poverty eradication, and inclusive economic growth.
Let me briefly touch on women’s participation. No one seems to argue against the notion that women hold up half the sky but it would appear from the evidence on the ground that we don’t really care if half the earth collapsed on our heads. Because in every one of the issues we are covering in this conversation, including leadership, sustainability, and capital markets, women routinely receive the short end of the stick.
Women are at the receiving end of unsustainable practices such as the use of charcoal and wood for cooking resulting in deaths from indoor air pollution. Globally, household air pollution is responsible for approximately 3.2 million deaths annually, with women and children in Africa accounting for 60% of these fatalities. The disparities in access to finance are stark: women make up nearly 70% of the workforce in agriculture yet receive only 7% of investments.
The IFC estimates a financing gap of $42 billion for women-owned businesses in Africa. Women run 40% of Africa’s SMEs but receive only 1% of funding from venture capitalists. All this is in spite of the empirical evidence, for example, research shows that companies with higher representation of women in leadership positions tend to perform better financially. For instance, organisations in the top 20% of financial performance had 37% of their leaders as women, compared to only 19% in the bottom 20%. There is also strong research support for the position that female managers are more adept at building rapport among mixed-gender teams, leading to improved communication and productivity. Any and every averagely honest married man knows that women manage finances better.
But there are silver linings here and there, several initiatives have been introduced in Africa to improve access to finance for women entrepreneurs. These include Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) launched by the African Development Bank, AFAWA aims to bridge the $42 billion financing gap faced by women in Africa.
There is also the G7 Partnership for Women’s Digital Financial Inclusion in Africa. This partnership contributes to a $12.8 million initiative by the African Development Bank to bolster women’s economic empowerment and youth entrepreneurship through digital financial inclusion. These initiatives are part of a broader effort to address the gender gap in financial inclusion and empower women entrepreneurs across Africa.
But there is far too much more to do, a lot will depend on national leadership, national laws and policies representation in politics may have to be, by law, setting minimum representation of women; evolution may take far too long.
Let me end by putting my earlier conclusion in different words: because of the sheer interconnectedness of things today, it is beyond argument that the responsibility of leadership extends beyond governments. Corporate leaders, investors, and civil society must work collaboratively to rethink business models for sustainability, and how to green supply chains by recognising that manufacturing in some geographies may in the medium to long term better protect, not just commerce, but the world, we democratise capital markets, and ensure that the half that holds up half the sky is equally represented in the commanding heights of business and politics.
In this great if uncertain future ahead of us, we certainly need all hands on deck!