XcluSive NEWS: WEF Pools $68bn for Investment in Africa, Scores WEFA High

24th World Economic Forum on Africa or Managing Director of WEF, Mr. Phillip Rosler*Brown, Okonjo-Iweala say event galvanised world against terrorists

*UN to send  special envoy on security to Nigeria
*FG commits $10m to  support ‘Safe Schools Initiative’ for North
By Ndubuisi Francis
As the curtains drew on the 24th World Economic Forum on Africa (WEFA) in the Nigerian capital, Abuja Friday, the Davos, Swiss-based World Economic Forum (WEF), organisers of the event said the fruits of the three-day meet were enormous,  even as it scored it in spite of the security concerns.
WEF said WEFA 2014 pooled $$68 billion during the three-day event, for investment in health care, agriculture, energy,  infrastructure, and other sectors of the African economy.
A Managing Director of WEF, Mr. Phillip Rosler, who gave an account of the event at a concluding joint press conference alongside the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; a former British Prime Minister, Mr. Gordon Brown, and Chairman, Editor-in-Chief of THISDAY Newspapers, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, described the event as very successful.
Rosler said the event “tried as much as possible to create a community of interests and it was very successful, ” adding that WEFA 2014 surpassed the last edition in South Africa going by the number of articles it generated.
According to him, while the last edition in South Africa recorded 16,000 articles, the just-concluded WEFA in Abuja recorded 48,000.
“Secondly, it was not just about creating a community of interests, like our mission which is committed to improving the state of Africa, we had a community of purpose, to put all the money together which was committed in this three days by the Chinese government and others, which would amount to $68 billion over the next few years, for Africa,” Rosler said.
Besides other commitments from investors across the globe, who attended the event, the Chinese Premier, China, Li Keqiang had on Thursday told participants at the Forum that China was committing about  $30 billion in investment in Africa in the next three years.
“It is not only money. There are projects for the people of Africa, and we are not only here to talk about the problems; we want to change something, he said, noting that terrorism cannot dictate the agenda for Africa”.
Details to follow