By Monday Ijeh
Abuja – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has pledged to send a special envoy to the Nigerian Young Professionals Forum (NYPF) Summit scheduled to take place in New York on Sept. 24.
A statement issued on Saturday in Abuja by Miss Owomilere Obe, Director of Communications of the forum, said that the summit was aimed at preferring solutions to the recession facing the country.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria Charles Soludo and Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun are expected to attend the summit, according to the statement.
“The summit is part of efforts to resolve the present economic crisis in Nigeria and assist with credible projects that could potentially elevate Nigeria from its current status as a third world country.
“The theme of the summit is X-raying the current Nigeria’s Economic Challenges and our Foreign Policy, Prospect and Solution.
“We can no longer pretend that Nigeria is not in a recession. This is evident by the dip in government revenues, drop in consumer spending, decline in economic activities, job losses and most importantly Inflation rate.
“This is why we have come together as young professionals to address these issues on the way forward for Nigeria,’’ Obe said.
She said that the summit would hold concurrently with the United Nations General Assembly and it would feature discussions that border on inclusive growth, food security, economy diversification and foreign direct investment.
Obe said that representatives of International Monetary Fund, World Bank Group, African Development Bank, Bill Gates Foundation, EU and Rockefeller Foundation would feature in panel discussions.
NYPF, founded by Mr Moses Siasia, is a non-governmental organisation with more than three million young Nigerian professionals from diverse professions and perspectives.
It recently inaugurated a N500 special seed fund — Young Entrepreneurs and Student Grant Scheme — for young Nigerians as part of efforts to grow more indigenous entrepreneurs and encourage self-reliance.(NAN)
IMC/KAY
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(Edited by Kayode Olaitan)
