*United Nations Secretary-General Ant贸nio Guterres says the global body expects each world government to commit to the Global Accelerator initiative via formulation of ‘national policies and integrated strategies for just transitions’ in the green, care and digital economies

Isola Moses | 绿帽献妻

The United Nations (UN), again, has urged governments across the world to 鈥渜uickly鈥� invest in quality job creation and the provision of social protection for consumers without coverage.

The African Development Bank (AfDB), in a statement issued by the Communication and External Relations Department of the continental body, noted Ant贸nio Guterres, Secretary-General of the UN, said this while speaking at a high-level session as part of the UNGA77, in New York, United States (US) recently.

The AfDB stated the forum a session to discuss 鈥淕lobal Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions initiative鈥� during the UN General Assembly meetings, in New York.

The organisation said that the initiative was inaugurated 2021 by the United Nations International Labour Organisation (ILO) and brings together governments, international financial institutions, civil societies, the UN, and the private sector.

The statement said: “The aim is to create 400 million new, decent jobs, especially in the green, care, and digital economies.

“It also aims to extend social protection to more than four billion people worldwide that are currently without coverage.”

The AfDB also noted Guterres told the world leaders to focus on concrete solutions to implement the initiative.

It stated: 鈥淭he path of inaction leads to economic collapse and climate catastrophe, widening inequalities and escalating social unrest.

鈥淭his could leave billions trapped in vicious circles of poverty and destitution.鈥欌��

Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President of AfDB, said the Bank had inaugurated a 10-billion-dollar facility, which he noted was a rapid response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Adesina disclosed the facility helped provide social protection for more than 28 million people.

The bank, he said, inaugurated a three-billion-dollar social impact bond on global capital markets in 2020.

The AfDB Chief, however, stated 鈥渂ut that is not enough. We have to restructure our economies to be productive with education, infrastructure, and energy making sure we have productive sectors that can use people鈥檚 skills and absorb that into the economy.

鈥淎t the African Development Bank, we have taken a proactive approach to job.”

According to him, as an example, he named the bank鈥檚 Jobs for Youth in Africa programme to create 25 million jobs by 2025.

Adesina further said: 鈥淣early half of those jobs had already been delivered.”

The AfDB President cited sectors, such as Agriculture in which the bank was investing $25 billion to transform rural areas and turn the sector into a business.

He noted: 鈥淲e are investing 20 billion dollars to build 10,000MW of electricity that will provide energy for productive use and create millions of jobs.鈥�

He further said it was time for Africa to build a manufacturing capacity for polysilicon material used for solar panels 鈥渟o that we can create a lot of green jobs.

鈥淭he creative industry, especially Nigeria鈥檚 film industry, popularly known as Nollywood, is another area that requires significant investment given its potential to generate 20 billion dollars of revenue and create 20 million jobs.鈥�

The UN expects each government to commit to the Global Accelerator initiative and its objectives by among others, developing national policies and integrated strategies for just transitions, said the AfDB statement.

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