Governments on the continent of Africa have been urged to ensure stability and national unity as a necessary step towards ensuring investment growth, job opportunities and poverty eradication, Jean Eyegbe Ndong, prime minister and head of government of the Republic of Gabon, made this remark at the 34th conference and general assembly of the African Insurance Organization, AIO, held in Libreville, Gabon. He said that the challenge to free Africa from poverty constitutes a fight that engages policy makers as well as partners from developed countries.
Worried by recent reports that Africa will become poorer and will not be able to reach the millennium development goals by 2015, he said that overcoming all these trends should be for all a motivation to find out specific conditions that may give the African population a chance to survive and guarantee sustainable development particularly for a continent overwhelmed with poverty, armed conflicts and diseases.
Ndong said that the challenge is on the insurance industry to find out ways and means capable of providing the population with products that will match their purchasing power and living standard. The conference was undoubtedly a sign of goodwill and contribution to the development efforts to Africans. “Thanks to the mobilization of savings by the insurance industry through their different networks. The growth of the insurance companies will no doubt contribute to the economic and social development of our countries”, he said.
According to Ndong, in an increasingly globalizing world, the insurance industry must of necessity be involved in poverty reduction not only sustainable financial security of the citizenry, but by providing free funds for other services of the economy. While thanking supervisory insurance organs and officials on the continent for stabilizing the markets, he noted that countries should enhance their capacities through recapitalization. “Reducing poverty and inequalities efficiently cannot be achieved without government intervention, hence, leadership on the continent must support the effort through peace and stability of their different countries”, Ndong emphasized.
Steffen Gilbert, immediate past president of AIO in his opening remark stressed that without insurance no nation can develop, Gilbert noted that the AIO has a role to play by ensuring the promotion of inter-African co-operation and exchange of expertize for the purpose to develop a healthy insurance and reinsurance industry in Africa.
