ABUJA
Several world leaders and hundreds of top business executives, entrepreneurs and other influential figures will attend a global economic forum on Africa, set to kick off in Nigerian capital Abuja on Wednesday.
"No fewer than 13 heads of states and governments are expected to be part of the discussions at the World Economic Forum on Africa," presidential spokesman Reno Omokiri told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday.
He said his government was trying to ensure a hitch-free event.
Omokiri lauded the choice of Nigeria to host the 24th World Economic Forum on Africa – to be held under the theme "Forging Inclusive Growth, Creating Jobs" – as a vote of confidence in the government's effort to transform the country.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan will open the three-day event in Abuja on Wednesday.
Among the leaders attending the forum are Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Ghanaian President John Mahama, Malian Prime Minister Mousa Mara and Ivorian Prime Minister Daniel Duncan.
Former U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, meanwhile, will be a keynote speaker at the event.
Nigeria's Aliko Dangote, Africa's richest man, and Ashish Thakkar, founder and head of pan-African conglomerate Mara Group, will be among the top entrepreneurs attending the forum.
They will be joined by other global business players, including Mark Spelman, managing director of Accenture; Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Enterprises; John Rice, president of Global Growth & Operations; Dominic Barton, global managing director of McKinsey & Company; and Heineken CEO Jean-François van Boxmeer.
The three-day event will focus on innovative structural reforms and investments with a view to generating employment and stimulating economic growth in Africa.
Other issues on the agenda will include skills creation and the upgrade of public services.
-Beneficial-
Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the event would help showcase the potential of the Nigerian economy.
She said that Nigeria accounted for some 30 percent of sub-Saharan Africa's economy and 21 percent of the entire African economy.
"Nigeria's economy constitutes 76 percent of the economy of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)," she told a Monday press briefing.
The minister expected a host of fresh development initiatives to be unveiled at the forum.
"We have the 'Grow Africa Initiative,' which is for the funding of agriculture on the continent. They [the World Economic Forum] have been able to raise about 7 billion Nigerian naira [worth of] investments [roughly $44.2 million], and about half of it will be coming to Nigeria," she added.
"[There is] also the healthcare initiative designed to strengthen access to healthcare," Okonjo-Iweala added.
"A skills initiative is being launched by the WEF and, within that, we are going to see a new initiative of Safe Schools being launched by the private sector in Nigeria," she said.
It is hoped that the safe schools initiative, which is aimed at the country's insurgency-wracked northeastern region, will be of great benefit to women and girls.
The Nigerian minister stressed that the local economy had continued to attract local and foreign investors.
"Two foreign investors, Unilever and Bloomberg, have indicated interest to invest $150 million and $250 million respectively," she noted.
"Bloomberg wants to make Nigeria [its] logistics hub for Africa," said the minister.
-Security-
The forum will be held amid watertight security. A three-day holiday has been declared in Abuja for the convenience of the event's over 1000 participants.
Minister Okonjo-Iweala insisted that everything was being done to guarantee the safety of forum attendees.
"I can assure you that the delegates will be okay; the venue and hotels will be secured and the number of security personnel will be encouraging," she said.
At least 5000 uniformed security agents have been deployed for the event, not including an undisclosed number of plainclothes agents already stationed across the capital.
Schools, too, will remain closed for the duration of the three-day forum.
Abuja has been hit by two deadly terrorist attacks within the past three weeks alone, leaving scores dead and injured.
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