AQUARIAN CONSULT'S AFRI-CARIBBEAN INVESTMENT SUMMIT 2026 (DAY FOUR)

And for policy makers, yes, we'll be calling as you on you as well. Let's begin. Please rise for the national anthems of Nigeria and St. Kitan Neas.

We'll be our own land. Who tri and proud to serve, a sovereign land. Our flag shall be a symbol that truth and justice r in peace all battle to follow and this we count us to hang on to our Children above our meet our st. Oh God of all creation grant this our request. Help us to build a nation where no man is oppressed. And so with peace and plenty may be blessed.

>> Oh land of beauty, a country where peace thy children stand free. On the strength of will and love with God in all our struggles. Saint kids and he be all nation bound together with our common destiny. The Lord we stand for justice and with wisdom and truth we will serve and honor thee. No small caner. Oh God will show you. His blessings shall forever.

Thank you. Please be seated. Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to day four of the 2026 Africa Caribbean Investment Summit, where conversations have moved beyond ideas into direction, beyond vision, into action.

Over the past three days, we have shared knowledge, strengthened partnerships, and reaffirmed our commitment to the theme, one voice, one vision, advancing AfroCaribbean unity. Allow me to briefly revisit the key moments from the past few days of the summit.

Day one opened with a welcome address by Miss Aisha Maina GMD Aquaran consult who welcomed delegates from over 20 African and Caribbean countries and noted the growth of the summit into a six-day gathering focused on strengthening ties between regions reminding us that our rhythm is the same our vision is the same and our voice is one in the keynote honorable Samal dog minister for creative economy of St. Kita Neas emphasized the need for stronger AfroCaribbean collaboration, noting that global influence today is driven not only by resources but by culture, creativity and narrative.

Panel discussions featuring Robertin Webb, Steve Gawkas, Adora Rachier, and Darian Dash highlighted the need for better financing, stronger cooperative infrastructure, and deeper collaboration across film, music, and the wider creative industries. Remarks by her regal majesty, Ambassador Dr. Timito and Noni, the Oloy of Ephere reminded us that culture is both identity and wealth and that Africa and the Caribbean must work as partners and not competitors. Day one concluded with a signing ceremony involving honorable Samuel Dogggin, Miss Aisha and Mr. Steve Gawkers, marking a step forward in strengthening AfroCaribbean storytelling and creative cooperation.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, on day two of the 2026 AfroCaribbean Investment Summit, discussions focused on the role of storytelling and the creative economy in strengthening AfroCaribbean identity, trade, and development. Speakers emphasized the need for both regions to rely less on external systems and build stronger creative and economic structures from within using storytelling not just as culture but as strategy to shape global perception and create opportunity.

The fireside chat on the evolution of Nollywood and Afaribbean creative growth highlighted the importance of better funding, stronger digital infrastructure, improved intellectual property protection and authentic storytelling. In the panel on storytelling as strategy, speakers noted that global demand in shaping is shaped by cultural exposure and called for stronger collaboration, creative investment, and better connectivity between Africa and the Caribbean. The keynote on catalyzing private investment in resilient economic systems stressed the need for stronger value chains, increased trade and greater self reliance with the creative industries and agriculture identified as key drivers of growth. Overall, they too reinforced the importance of coordination, investment, and cultural ownership as both regions continue to build a shared and resilient future.

Day three of the 2026 Africa Investment Summits focus on strengthening collaboration between Africa and the Caribbean in agriculture, food security, creative industries, trade, and cultural identity. The conversations emphasized the need to move from dialogue to action by building coordinated systems that support economic resilience and shared growth. Speakers highlighted new opportunities in the creative economy, including stronger financing, intellectual property protection, and cultural exchange. We are firming that cultural identity is not only heritage, but economic power.

Discussions on agriculture and food security stretch the importance of climate smart farming reduce dependence on imports and stronger regional value chains to ensure long-term sustainability. Trade and connectivity were also key themes with calls for better logistics, improved travel links and harmonized regulations to unlock the full potential of Afrearibbean trade. Overall, day three reinforce that deeper cooperation, stronger policies and investment ready projects are essential as both regions work towards a more connected and selfreliant future.

Today is day four and we have even more robust conversations and deliberations coming our way soon. Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, my name is A, the host and I'm honored to serve as a coc for the events today. But I'm not doing this alone. I'm doing this with my amazing coc.

>> Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Ka Barage.

>> Nice to meet you again.

>> I am so pleased to be here with you for another day.

>> Lovely.

And so we begin ladies and gentlemen with our first panel. Our first panel will be guided by the topic resources to returns structuring capital for AfroCaribbean industrial growth. Please welcome our moderator Mr. Wallei and we will begin with the reading of our bios for our panelists.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to introduce Darien Dash. Dash is a global entrepreneur, investor, and cultural architect whose career spans music, media, finance, and now large-scale infrastructure development. He began as the co-founder of of what became Rockefeller Records, one of the most iconic platforms in hip hop history, and went on to serve as CFO and head of corporate strategy at QC Media, helping lead a landmark $320 million transaction with Hib.

Today, Dash brings the same vision, scale, and execution into the world of food security assets as chairman of WIN Industries. WIN is a multis- sector development platform anchored on over 11,000 acres in Guyana, designed to become a fully integrated agroindustrial and logistics hub. At its core, it is a strategic partnership with Delmonte, a global leader in fresh produce with multi-billion dollar revenues and distribution across every major international market. Together, they are building a vertically integrated agricultural and export platform, combining cultivation, processing, cold storage, and logistics into a single ecosystem.

At full scale, the plantation is projected to generate over $700 million in long-term contracted revenue across its life cycle. Anchored by global offtake, and built for export at scale. But WIN goes beyond agriculture. It integrates renewable energy, logistics, infrastructure, hospitality, and trade corridors, positioning Guyana and the wider Caracum region as a new global hub for food production and distribution. At a time when the world is focused on food security, Dash is not just talking about solutions, he is building them. His platform is designed to connect continents, link Caraccom into a unified, efficient food and trade network with a rare combination of cultural influence, financial expertise, and infrastructure execution. Dash represents a new model of leadership. Please join me in welcoming Mr. Darien Dash.

Africa does not lack resources. It does not lack talent. What it has sometimes lacked is the infra industrial infrastructure to transform these resources and that talent into lasting economic value. Value that stays on the continent, employs its people and funds its future. Our next panelist has made building that infrastructure his life's work. Adam Mulai is a chairman of TRT Investments, a diversified investment holding company operating across West and Southern Africa with a growing presence in the United States and European markets.

Through TRT, he has invested across tobacco, logistics, construction, mining, banking, insurance, general manufacturing, fuel, and lubricants, and recently launched the JUA Kickstarter, a $1 million venture capital fund designed to inspire and support African entrepreneurs. His stated mission is clear and compelling to industrialize Africa and help build it into an alternative supply chain for the world. He has said that Africa must produce that it must move from being on the menu of the global economic table to having a seat at it. He's an industrialist, a visionary and an African optimist of the most practical kind. Distinguished guest, ladies and gentlemen, chairman TRT investments, African industrialist South Africa. Let's make welcome Mr. Adam Moolai.

Africa produces more than 60% of the world's diamonds by volume and more than half by value. Botswana, Angola, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, these are not small players in the global diamond industry. They are the industry. And yet for decades the continent has received a fraction of the economic benefits that its own resources generate because the cutting, polishing, manufacturing and retail layers of the value chain have largely been controlled elsewhere. Our next panelist has spent more than 40 years working to change that. Dr. Dr. Foola is the chairman of the African Diamond Council, Africa's official diamond governing body, a position he has held since 1999, making one of the longest serving institutional leaders in the history of the global diamond industry.

He is a mining engineer, a chief global economist, and one of the most respected strategic adviserss in the international diamond trade. In 1986, he made history as the world's first of African descent, introducing ideal and super ideal cut diamonds to the global diamond supply chain. He was instrumental in establishing the African international diamond exchange and the African diamond trust fund. He played a pivotal role in laying the foundation for Dubai's rise as a major diamond and jewelry manufacturing center through the Dubai multicommodity center in 2002. He advocates across 12 languages on behalf of the African continent and its intellectual leadership. He has been uncompromising in his insistence that Africa must move beyond raw material extraction that the continent must retain more of the revenue from cutting, polishing, jewelry manufacturing and retail. He has said that diamonds must be a tool of industrialization, sovereignity and bargaining power, not simply commodities extracted for the benefit of others. Distinguished guest ladies and gentlemen chairman African diamond council ADC mining engineer and senior strategy advisor Angola let's make welcome Dr. Fool geni.

We'll be now handing over to our moderator to kickstart the conversation. Thank you.

>> He's walking.

>> Oh, okay. Yeah, good morning everybody. Uh I hope um the event is uh going on fine and we've been having a good time so far. My name is Wally Oluci. I'm a director in the PWC deals advisory service and this topic that we are you know discussing this morning uh from resource to return structuring capital for Africa Caribbean industrial growth is uh particularly interesting for for me because of the nature of what I've spent the last u five to six years doing in that pace.

Um what we've seen is uh the problem has always not been that there's no capital in Africa but whether the projects that those uh capital should be deployed into uh bankable or not that's on the capital side on the resourcerich nature of Africa there's also the you know typical challenge that has been highlighted the problem is not that we are not we do not have res resources. In fact, uh Africa is resourceri. I've worked on multiple countries in Africa and some of these countries are some of the richest country in the world. Take Congo for example. I once did a project in Kin Sasha and they have everything. They are perhaps the most resourcerich country in the world. Take Nigeria. uh we could literally produce anything if we want but most of the efforts in the last couple of years have been on oil and gas but Nigeria also have a lot of gas. We also have a lot of cocoa but we are not even top tree in cocoa production. Uh there's a common saying that says palm oil was taken from Nigeria and now Indonesia and Malaysia and co are the big players there. And then if you go to the other West African countries say Ghana or Kodiva who are also very big players in the cocoa industry uh they don't make a lot of money from chocolates which is you know what cocoa is processed into uh if you check around the world where the bulk of that uh value goes to somewhere in Europe.

So today conversation in uh in Kodivore in Ghana is switching towards how do we maximize um you know the benefit of you know this cocoa that we produce a lot. I come back to Nigeria where within the last 24 months maybe 3 years with the advent of the Dangote refinery there's been a tremendous transformation in the Nigerian oil and gas sector because now we now have a facility that can process you know perhaps the largest capacity across um uh one of the biggest refinery in the world and we've seen the impact of that in the course of the last couple of week with what is going on between Israel, US and Iran and the impact on energy prices and of course what is happening at the street of and the amount of demand we've seen coming into Dangote refinery. I think all of this is pointing to one thing that if Africa put more effort into industrialization, how do we capitalize on these immense resources that we have, you know, in a way that we can uh grow our economy, create more jobs for ourel, improve our local skills and you know become a major player not only in the world in terms of resourceri uh nature nature but uh in creating value across the value chain it would you know impact the uh continent across board and talking about you know the uh relationship between Africa and the Caribbean that is also you know a growing conversation you know up until recently uh even though if you look at the people in Caribbean you look at the people in Africa you see a lot of similarities maybe in terms of the color of their skin and you the way of life and even the nature of um you know this market from a geographical point of view we've not had a lot of interaction or relationship but that conversation is also uh changing uh uh DFIs like Africy beyond just looking at Africa and you know they are talking about Africa Caribbean and they are investing heavily in that sector. But if you even look at that, it still look like a drop in the ocean in terms of what we can do together as um you know um region from a partnership point of view and I think that's where this conversation is coming to this morning because of the significant resource that both Africa and the Caribbean you know possess. Uh we also have human uh capital. Uh Africa is about a billion people most of whom are very young people. If you go to the Caribbean, you know the same thing. So uh we have huge human capital that can be translated that can be invested into the resources we have to you know make do or grow our economy as a continent. But not a lot of that um has you know has happened in the past. So this conversation and of course this um panel that I have here today we will try and see how we can answer a few question around how capital can be structured to transform natural resources into sustainable economic returns across Africa. what's the role of trade finance, private equity and institutional investment in supporting cross regional growth and how do we identify these opportunities uh to grow our regions. So that's what we will be discussing. But allow me to open the conversation for discussion at at this point and I'll just start from my left hand side and then I'll try and work my way down to to to the right. I just want our panelists to you know probably open the floor by giving us uh what their view is about the you know resource capital landscape in Africa and the Caribbean. You know from your point of view what do you think um the challenges are? uh what is uh hindering uh the transformation or the transition of Africa and the Caribbean from being resourcerich to capitalize capitalizing on that resource that we have into growing the into industrializing both Africa and the Caribbean. Uh I think that's how I want us to open it. then we'll go into we get into the conversation around the capital requirements and investment need. Uh please I'll open the floor with you sir. Thank you.

>> Um W thank you very much.

>> Um I think the way I would probably frame this matter is to say we don't have a resource challenge and we actually don't have a capital challenge. We have a value extraction and a market access challenge. And why I say value extraction is I'll use an example of one of my industries that I've spent a lot of time in. In 2000, uh, in Zimbabwe, where I come from, there were 5,000 white farmers. And I emphasize white because it was a totally racialized industry and there was production of 200 million kilograms of tobacco and the country exported raw tobacco. Average price $3 a kg. The country earned $600 million of exports. Land reform came where Zimbabwe decided to get land to the majority and our innovation was to say how do we bring these smallcale farmers small holder farmers who've never produced this crop into the mainstream and through a process of contract growing of tobacco we developed an industry from 5,000 000 farmers to now over 185,000 farmers, 98% of which are local black farmers. And the industry has grown from 200 million kg to almost 380 million. So a 90% growth. How did this happen? It was a deliberate and intentional process of developing that value chain but knowing that the end is not the raw material. The end is the finished product because there's a 15 to 20 times value multiplier between the raw material and the finished goods. So the idea was then to say how do we take it from farmer to primary processing from primary processing to cigarette manufacturing but not only cigarette manufacturing but also how do we then create what is probably the most important thing for all of us in Africa and the Caribbean which is intellectual property. Because unless or until we start creating brands and intellectual property that can withstand the test of time, we remain a purveyor of commodities. We remain hamstrung to our god-given benefits of either crops or minerals. So the next step was then to create intellectual property and make sure that we now build brands that can proliferate around the region. We built brands and the final step was to distribute those brands and make sure we have market access. What did we face along the way? The multinationals have a way of making sure that locals are then hamstrung from accessing those markets. If you go to a wholesaler, they'll tell that wholesaler, if you stock this new brand, we will stop supplying you our brand, which makes up 90% of that category. And what does that do? It stops the growth of local homegrown brands. So a key issue and that's why I talk of market access is that we then had to develop our own markets where at that time they were delivering to key accounts or what we call modern trade. We decided to go and build from the local to the informal trader. So we went from a sales rep to the little tuk tuks to a bicycle vendor to a backpack vendor up to all the way to a street vendor where they were building kiosks in supermarkets. We were building vendor trolley on the ground level. So market access becomes a key issue. But we have to innovate and build market relevant solutions for our own markets. not try to mimic what has always been there and was always developed by the multinationals. So when I look at what we need to do from your question >> W it's to say we have to build value chains we have to look at it as an ecosystem and build capital that is aligned to the entire ecosystem. So it has to be patient capital. >> How did we develop? We got the support of DFIs. So you are Friggs and Bank. I mean they came in very early with a facility for us at the time of uh $20 million. And that was what helped us to start building this value chain back in 2002. But if we look today and in every industry that we have entered, we've now entered the home care space, personal care space. What has Africa done? We have Shia in West Africa. We were selling Shia as just the sheer butter. >> She butter. >> Now we've said let's invest in the manufacturing capacity to make cosmetics. Because if you look today cosmetics and cleaning products, it's 80 to 85% water. Now, do we as Africans and the Caribbean are we so dafted that we have to import expensive water? We only have 10 15% of active ingredients. >> Now, if we're shipping to each other, do we need to ship the water from Africa to the Caribbean? No. So, as we design now, how we going to collaborate? We have to be looking at solutions that say, right, if we're shipping personal care, if we're shipping home care, let's remove the water. Let's send the active ingredients and add the water in the Caribbean or add the water in Africa. We started our journey of the collaboration between Africa and the Caribbean in 2016. We took our cigarettes to Jamaica, right? Uh at that time a Frixen Bank and my lovely sister here who's done amazing job Aisha in terms of developing this platform. Yeah. Right. They were also I think thinking in the same vein. So as we look at collaboration, let's look at what do we shift in terms of value chains between Africa and the Caribbean that create the competitive advantage. I think that's how I'd answer you. Yeah,

>> thank you very much chairman and I think that's a very interesting um um um point to to start with and based on where you land I want to go to dash and allow take it from there and you know based on what you've done you know we having a small chat just um before the session started how do you think Africa and Caribbean can move from exporting raw material to building value added industrial economies you know from your point of you it's you know what you've done.

>> Well, I I can't say I've done anything to to be able to have an input to that specific question because I'm still a neoight

>> right

>> in this part of the of of my entrepreneurial experience and I have the benefit today of sitting in two seats. I sit in one seat in an industry where I have experience and knowhow and track record which is the music and media and entertainment space and I run a significant amount of capital with my partners to be able to deploy and invest in those verticals. So I understand how capital thinks and I understand capital goes where it's treated best

>> uh and it also goes where it's structured to flow through. And then I sit in a new seat which is I'm if it was a record industry I'm the artist now.

>> Um where I'm I'm almost I'm the entrepreneurial startup to an extent.

>> Um as an investor after we sold our business in 23 I moved to Guyana. I visited twice and then I just moved there because I saw the opportunity and I believed it was that big. And over the years, what I've seen and learned, because this is still, this is very new to me, is that the DFIs are extremely important capital sources to being able to take entrepreneurial vision, take startup investors, venture investors, which is what I would have would call myself in this instance, and be able to to move that capital through and take it forward. However, you have to derisk the capital. And so we had an opportunity to invest in buying um the Wen Ranch which is an 11,000 acre parcel in Lethm. And you know even after today's conversation I am now forever changed. I hadn't even taken the perspective of building brand and here I am a brand builder. Historically, I never even thought through the whole value chain of building the brand, but I looked at the platform and the opportunity of the platform. And the one thing I know about the Caribbean is that there are not enough platform businesses and what I'm learning through this trip is that the opportunity for the continent and the Caribbean to come together are to build dual platforms that can support and supply one another. And through the brand building that comes from having multiplatform, there's a huge opportunity to have one consolidated uh empire effectively. And so with my example, what we were able to do and what we were in the process of doing is we needed to find an anchor. I needed to figure out a way how can I derisk the development of this land? How can I derisk the development of this platform? And by the grace of God, I was able to find Delonte as a partner. And you know, they're a multi-billion dollar company and they are outgrowing um their plantation infrastructure. Demand is high and I was fortunate enough to get them to come and take um 2200 of our acres to develop this pineapple plantation. But the vision that I have for the platform is it has to have transloading, right? That's an important part of the logistics. The coal chain is is not strong in the Caribbean in general from supply trucks all the way down to coal storage. So cold is very important that we develop a good strong coal chain. It also needed to have transloading, right? So transloading in the logistics part is very important. Needed to have gas station. So we have a diesel station now that is anchoring the land. And it was also an opportunity as I looked at it from a vertical integration perspective to say okay all of this needs power. Yeah.

>> Right. So we can't so we can never forget the power part of it and the and and the need to build power. So we have wen power and light. Right. So, what I'm effectively trying to do is to take this partner that I have that anchors me with a 25-year 100% offtake agreement from a cash flow perspective. And what happens? You get this gross revenue and then there are cogs, right? There's your costs.

>> And in inside of those cogs, it's usually power.

>> Yeah.

>> Processing,

>> right?

>> Logistics

>> and human capital. And you can build and what we're doing is building industry around the costs in our top line which then builds enterprise value in each one of those separate entities that are then consolidated upstream. That's the viewpoint and approach that I've taken because I understand how capital thinks and I also know where value is created. Value is created in the multiple that you can sell each enterprise for. I left out the brands and I'm not going to forget that anymore. Thank you. I greatly appreciate that perspective. And at the end of the day, I think then it's okay, now I've done this. I've got a large offtaker. How can I expand?

>> How can I now partner into Africa? How can I partner here to build a dual platform? How can I bring this is the AfroCaribbean investment summit?

>> So, I'm here to say, okay, how can I now attract capital partners that are invested in here and how can I also provide food sovereignty? I learned the difference between food security and food sovereignty yesterday. And how can I now start to provide food sovereignty to the other Caribbean partners in the region that need a platform that is exclusively built for what they need to have and their brands that they want to produce and develop. So that's the perspective that I I know I didn't answer your question, but that that is the perspective that I've approached this from. And I can only speak from my experience.

>> Um, and and it's it's it's interesting to be in the seat that I'm sitting in now. You know, I I I spend half of my day deploying capital and now I spend the other half of my day trying to find the best resources to and best capital partners to bring in to be able to build an enterprise. So, you know, that that's my answer.

>> Thank you very much, D. I think that's a brilliant um response to my question even though you said you you didn't answer my question but you actually dev into you know what you've done with the value chain of um you know what you're you're doing and I think maybe that's the perspective African needs to you know look at you know when we you know mine these raw materials when we extract these resources and try to export it why not us you to take a look at it from okay what is the end uh product of this how do we now build capacity across you know the value chain I think that's the lesson how we take from there but I'll quickly go to you Adam and you know first I also want to ask from your perspective the same question of moving from extraction to to value added but because of where you sit uh I wanted because he also spoke about you know the investment side of things and the capital side of things how do you think what kind of uh structure, investment vehicle do you think uh we need to put in place to support long-term industrial growth as we think about industrializing Africa?

>> First, we have to really move away from uh extraction and exporting because we're basically giving away jobs. uh we have to find a way to fuse that and put uh more emphasis on domestic processing particularly here in Africa and I'm speaking from the perspective of a mineral resource industry or sector uh when you look at uh the diamond industry for example what you see is a very strong focus on extraction and a mining license Uh there's so much energy and effort that's put into that. No one's really coming back to the table to say where do we fit into this? Because you look at a company like A Roa, which is a Russian-based diamond extracting company. They are considered the number one diamond uh company in the entire world in terms of volume. They have sanctions on them. Uh that's a wonderful opportunity for African diamond producing countries, you see. Botswana. The minute A Rosa had sanctions on them, Botswana moved to the number one position. And what happened 7 months later? The Republic of Angola is now the number one diamond producer in Africa. And now you see a very strong and conscious effort to control the supply and value chain. uh you see Anglo-American looking to dump their subsidiary of Debeers group of companies which is an opportunity for African diamond producing countries. It allows us to come in and control the the value chain and the supply chain. It's it is a double-edged sword because if it's not valuable to Anglo-American, why should it be valued to African diamond producing countries? But it just put us in a very strategic position to say listen you have a country like Botswana who's already holding 15% of the debeers group of companies. They recently moved back into the Republic of Angola who's looking for 20 to 25%. uh the media tried to create a very competitive uh environment between the two countries, but at the end of the day, it's about how do we spread that wealth around and distribute it evenly. We recently got uh Namibia into the conversation. You look last week only the the president of Botswana went on a outing to the Republic of Angola to talk specifically about acquisition of the Debeers group. He left there. He went to Namibia to bring them into the conversation. And now everyone's looking for a very equal and strong equity position. You know, rather than us coming to the table to say Angola will go in and take 50% or Botswana will come in and take 50%. We have 18 diamond producing countries and it's a benefit for all of them. So I I think right now we are looking to strengthen the domestic processing and basically try to find a way to uh not export raw materials and create more jobs in that particular sector.

>> Thank you so much.

>> Um, Adam, I think um we should take this conversation a notch higher to talking about trade financing because you know as we move across the value chain to industrialized Africa and of course develop capacity across the value chain a number of financial product comes to mind uh trade financing um is one of them. to um chairman. What I want to ask is how can trade finance institutions support cross regional manufacturing and you know supply chain um between Africa and Caribbean for example.

>> Thanks. Thanks. I think we need to again look at it uh a little bit differently. Trade finance in Africa was always about DFIs funding Africans to go and buy products from other origins. So it was about importing from China, importing from Europe, importing from the Americas. And that's fundamentally where we need to start, right? That mindset has to change to say let's now start import substitution, right? Because import substitution is what drives the industrialization. So rather than look at funding the import, they should be looking at funding the value chains that substitute those imports. Right? Because once we do that, we able to now convert our youth dividend. We've got I always say our youth is either our greatest threat or our greatest opportunity. depending on whether we leverage them or allow them to roam, in which case we'll have an inhabitable Africa and the Caribbean, right? If they have nothing to do, they'll find something to keep the governments busy with, right? Which is insecurity. So my view is that the approach to DFIs need to be more aligned to import substitution and whoever was importing for lack of a better example cosmetics. The DFI should be saying who are the local manufacturers of cosmetics? How do we capacitate them to develop the value chains that to now start manufacturing their brands within these African count uh companies or within these Caribbean companies, right? So I think it's a whole mind shift change where we start looking at ourselves as the solution rather than looking at everybody else as the solution to our to our I'd call them not challenges but to our opportunities,

>> right? because it is an opportunity to create uh the jobs. It isn't an opportunity to create the value multiples because what we were doing is we were exporting the raw material let's say for cosmetics Shia importing it as finished goods the cosmetics

>> at a 20 30 times value multiple and we wonder why we always have a negative balance of trade because we're exporting $100 and importing a thousand.

>> Right? So we can only address that by changing the way we look at funding of trade to funding of value chains to create local industrialization.

>> Thank you very much. I I want to you know also add to that question and and shift to to the right hand side. Some of the efforts I have seen lately around what you mentioned around you know financing trade in Africa is the likes of Afreexim AFC and other DFIs trying to sponsor projects that would develop things like Agroat Park across Africa and then allow with the Africa trade continental uh agreement allow these countries to trade amongst themselves rather than ship out this uh in the hydrocarbon space and you know with energy transition uh what we've also seen is efforts by summer

>> we're doing it this is need to that and engaging

>> I will say you know from that and engaging

>> I will say you know from a trade finance perspect trade finance perspective and the DFI's role it is paramount especially in my experience so far in Guyana and in the Caribbean there is not an efficient ient capital vehicle whether it's there there's no financing vehicle or structured financial vehicle structured debt that exists today outside of a DFI where an entrepreneur or even somebody who has a valuable contract can finance it. The model of financing that exists today that I'm experiencing is based off collateral

>> and it's that can be very limiting

>> because if you have a contract that you whether it's an agricultural contract, an oil and gas contract in the instance of Guyana for example, you know, I've seen multiple instances where the supply chain is getting large contracts from Exxon to supply them with different things. Well, good look. Good good news is you got a large contract.

>> Bad news, you got a large contract.

>> Exactly.

>> Because if you get a hundred million dollar contract and you only have $7 million of real estate that is collateralized that you can go to the bank with, you've just limited yourself on how much you can finance and you have to deliver on that contract. And so purchase order financing, factoring, all the different sorts of unit structured financing, senior mez, equity, these are new concepts in the private sector community in a lot of the developing countries because of their newfound wealth and newfound demand. And it's also a new concept in the financial institutions

>> in a lot of these different developing banking institutions in in the Caribbean. They're not new concepts for IDB. they're not new concepts for Afrey XM and so their role is paramount in being able to fill those voids.

>> Um and and without it what ends up happening is you have a lot of downward pressure for supply chain that ends up being going into the private sector and then you don't have a private sector that's financed and structurally set up enough to be able to deliver

>> and that causes friction in the system. So I think that the role of the DFI from a trade perspective and even at a local level has to be to create these structured products

>> uh to be able to unlock and enable the private sector to meet the the the the good news demand that they're getting

>> um from the primaries.

>> Wow. Thank you. I mean you mentioned a lot of things around structured products apart from trade finance mess and so on that can you know be created or structured by these DFIs and maybe you know other investment banks

>> um but you know Adam I'll just come to you on that you know what other product what else do you think can be done what what sort of other product can be created in terms of capital to help us solve this industrializing Africa problem.

>> It's very important to uh examine and always re-examine our economic infrastructure uh particular in the financial sector. When I look at the United Arab Emirates for example, they quickly move to the top of the food chain because they uh assume responsibility to be the number one trading hub for diamonds. Even though they are the top trading hub, they're also the youngest. there was a somewhat of an economic uh disregard for anything outside of the actual resource. So I always go to Dubai and we're under so many compliance restrictions. When you combine the word African and diamond together, it raises quite a bit of suspicion and discomfort. And sometimes our diamond sector outperforms or outruns the financial sector. I view this as an opportunity for uh the Caribbean because we could easily set up if you look at the current and existing conditions right now. Dubai is under fire and the whole GCC region is, which means that we have an opportunity to alter or maybe move our trading hub to a place like the Caribbean where they may have a better understanding of offshore banking.

>> They may have an un better understanding of how financial institutions can support uh a mining sector or mineral resource sector. So there's an opportunity that exists in the Caribbean right now to come in and say, "Listen, we understand your sector better than the Middle East, Persian Gulf, and we want to come in and use it as maybe a a housing mechanism for some of our resources or a storage space for some of our mineral resources. And also it gives us a chance to evolve in terms of uh digitalizing the financial sector for example in crypto and that could be uh a wonderful opportunity for the Caribbean to take care of and and listen we're just feel more aligned with the Caribbean than we do because like I said that opportunity that came in the UAE came from a deal that was struck between an Indian company and the Republic of Angola. We sent 40% of our productions to what was the number one manufacturing company at that time based in India. It was Rosie Blue. And we decided to do the transactions in Dubai. And of course they launched their uh Dubai multicommodity center and created the free zone and within five to six years you you had a major diamond center that was constructed there. It doesn't mean that we can't do that in the Caribbean. So it's something to seriously consider.

>> It's genius.

>> Thank you. I um have a two or maybe three in one question for you because of what you mentioned earlier around human capital and you know the you know the the the the demographic dividends that you know maybe Africa and the Caribbean has. And the first angle to the question is what is the role I mean of I mean how do we bring in the question of skill gap into industrializing Africa because you know there's a lot of talk about okay we want to move from you know extracting and exporting raw materials to the you know processing all these materials but do we have the necessary skills in Africa to actually achieve this And if we don't, you know, what should be the uh what should be the plan? How do we more transit from from where we are right now to where we want to be? I think that's one. The other angle to it is the role of the diaspora in all of this. how diasporan Africa, diasporan Caribbean, maybe a crossber interaction between Africa and Caribbean from a skill and maybe capital point of view um in trying to you know industrializing both regions. Thank you.

>> Thank you. I was smiling as you speaking because I think you were answering my my question as you're asking your next question. when you're asking about skills, I don't think African lacks. The diaspora is asking I mean if you look in the global capitals, I mean the best doctors in the US are Nigeria, right? The best engineers in in the UK and the Middle East are from Africa, right? The skill from Africa is in abundance in the diaspora. But the question should be how do we leverage that skill? How do we create conditions that make them want to come back and bring their skill home? Right? So I think it's more about creating the right conditions. I find it abominable and I would like to repeat this. You have governments everywhere in Africa and the Caribbean. What do you hear them talking about always? FDI, FDI, FDI, right? Why can't we focus on DDI, domestic direct investment, not foreign direct investment, right? leverage our own investment capital and give it the same conditions you give the foreign capital right why should a foreigner be given tax-free investment but me as a local I'm not given the same condition so why should I be a secondass citizen in within my own home so let's address the structural issues which don't need any foreigner which don't need any foreign consultants but just need our own willpower to start recognizing ourselves and our own value right so the challenge starts with our own mindset to ourselves until we start to respect ourselves right we will not get the value from ourselves second part of your question I believe we have the most phenomenal dead capital from within our diaspora and I know we've got so many financial minds here and I really believe there's instruments we can look at if you look at most of our Africans in the diaspora what do they all want a home at home can you imagine the day we get all those homes And when they build these homes, by the way, they're built for cash. There's no mortgages in most of these markets where these homes are built. So, it's cash that's sitting there. Maybe they've got somebody living in there paying a small rental. But can you imagine if we leveraged those assets, put them into a pool that we used to raise capital, we would raise trillions from all these dead capital of homes that are sitting there doing nothing. Right? That's where the value comes in my perspective in that we've got an amazing diaspora who have a heart to want to develop home but we're creating so many dead assets and I think let's leverage those dead assets let's bring them and create financial inclusion that brings in these dead assets and what we can do to raise global capital to create these industries using existing homes using existing land is phenomenal. So that would be my contribution.

>> Thank you very much. That's a brilliant answer. Please Dash, I would like to get your perspective on the same question because I think it's very important. The role of diasporan Africa and Caribbean in industrializing Africa. Uh what other role do you think they can play? I I agree that the you you can't understate the role of the sovereign and it is absolutely the responsibility of the sovereign. You talk about the Middle East and how they use their sovereign wealth funds to create investment vehicles, how they're backstopping and guaranteeing and insurance guaranteeing to allow capital to flow and feel like it has a safe place. um because the sovereign is helping to backs stop it. I also think the sovereign has a responsibility to develop specialty doctors, lawyers, but there's also a lot of specialty that needs to be developed in the in the Caribbean around different sorts of jobs, right? And what I'm seeing now can speak to the to my experience in Guyana. Again, I'm a I'm a I'm a guest in their home. I'm a guest in your house. So, I can't speak as an expert because I'm a guest. But from my perspective, what I've seen and what I'm experiencing, especially when I look at my

own what I'm invested in, I need to employ a thousand people. Hard stop. It hadn't occurred to me until this trip that the greatest export for me from Africa, from Nigeria, is going to be human capital. I need human capital. And the living wage that because of the nature of what I'm doing, the living wage that we can pay, I think is acceptable. And I also think it skills up a workforce that already has a skill and then it can help to additionally skill them up and then they can come back and bring it home.

Right now, what I'm seeing is that there is no human capital deployment coming from Africa toward the Caribbean. I see a lot of people coming from India. I see a lot of people coming from Latin America because it's close and it's it's probably more efficient.

But I do think that there's a a tremendous role that the sovereigns can play with one another to build that trade of human capital and expertise between one another. And I and I again I I I have to say especially in the Caribbean as I'm understanding this more and more it is has to be the role of the sovereigns in the Caribbean to create sovereign funds where that that have the ability and diversity to invest deeply in building their own industry at home. It can't just come from the DFIs. They're very important. But until the sovereign takes that role, you're you're at risk. Yeah.

Because you could get an administration and USAD can go away in 20 minutes, right? And that's a real thing. I mean, it happens. It just happens, right? And so, and that can continue to happen. So, it's the role of the sovereign if that's in fact what we're talking about to make those investment commitments and and and create that security for capital to flow.

Fantastic. Thank you very much, Dash. And I think you landed me exactly where I wanted to be because my next question to Adam was going to be the importance sorry right was going to be the importance of governance, transparency and policy framework in attracting investment. Of course, in the context of what we are discussing, you know, uh I'd like you to share your thoughts on this, please.

Trade finance institutions are typically very risk adverse. Uh it doesn't always benefit Africa. Uh we have to develop a comfort level to lead rather than follow. Uh many of the mechanisms that work for Africa could be used and become successful models for what we know as developed countries. uh we look at Africa, there's quite a few uh mechanisms that may work in a country like South Africa that doesn't work in a country like Angola. Uh we saw EXM bank for example come with a very strong powerful western style model. They implemented it in South Africa and it actually worked. But when they came to the Republic of Angola, it fell apart completely. And it was based on a lack of understanding of the environment in a place like Angola. When you look at Angola, you you need to understand that we had the same head of state for almost 39 years. We had a civil war for 27 years. We don't speak English. And when you come in with this model that was successful in South Africa and you say to an Angolan community or population, show us proof that you have a registered company in the last 10 years and let's see your bank account statement for the last 10 years without knowing that most of the companies 90% of the companies that are registered in Angola were registered in the last 365 days. So you you cannot you only have an elite who comes in and takes advantage of an opportunity like that. So we have to learn how to step out of our comfort zone like I said and and find a way to lead. I know that if we look at uh some other successful models uh in a country like Stomain which is very small or if you look at even uh Namibia and Botswana roughly around 2.5 million people but we have neighborhoods in Angola that are 2.5 million people and if you look at an administrator for Sambizango or Kazanga in Angola with populations of 2.5 million that's basically equals the population of the entire country. So we need to really make an effort to understand our terrain. Uh when you lend money in dollars and you earn money in Quanzas or shillings or rand you basically you're supporting a recipe for bankruptcy. So we have to really examine also that's why I'm always pushing for a common currency and I'm also looking for that currency to be backed by a mineral resource like diamonds or gold or some other mineral resources that we have.

My final question was going to be around the risking some of this conversation we are having around investing in Africa as well as you know building the value chain to transit Africa from you know exporting raw material to being industrialized fully. So I'll come back to you again. what are your views and I think it landed somewhere around you know investing or you know capitalizing USD and the revenue comes in local currency it's always create problem uh I think we are running a project recently and in Nigeria in the last 3 years the local currency have moved from 500 700 to 1,200 maybe 16 and then now it's back to about uh 13 maybe it's going to go back up depending on what's going going on in the global markets. So currency currency concerns often create a lot of uh risk issues with investors and we have to go over financial models over and over again where investors continue to insist that the currency projections does not work for them because you know it's a big concern. So how do we how do we derisk investment in Africa in a way that will take us from where we are right now to you know being industrialized? How do we encourage investors to come uh in the context of you know the risk uh that are inherent uh in investing in many of these markets? Thank you.

I I I think for me it's fundamentally an issue of confidence, right? If you talk about a country, I mean the you were talking about the Quanza. If you talk about a country, the country where I come from experienced probably one of the highest levels of inflation ever experienced. It ran into millions of percentage points. In fact, it became unmeasurable. So you ask yourself how does that happen? And a significant portion of it is confidence. Right? If the locals are confident in what is happening around them, they will not need a reason to store their wealth elsewhere. One of the biggest challenges we face is that most country companies in Africa end up creating what I'll call exotic structures where the value retention again talking of value chain the value retention becomes doiciled in a country where they feel is safe but the generation engine is in their own country. So you produce, for lack of a better example, a cosmetic at 10 cents within your market of origin. You sell it to a related entity within an environment like Mauritius for a dollar and then from there you sell it to rest of the world. Why? Because you'd rather have your 90 cents sit in Maitius where you feel your money is safe than it sits in your country where tomorrow the central bank wakes up and says the dollar which you had in your account we are now localizing at a rate of 1 one but in the parallel market it's available at a rate of 1 to 20 but only the elite can access it at 1:1. So they get it from the central bank, take it to the parallel market, sell it to you for 20 and make a 20fold return every day, right? Until we stop doing selfacing things of that nature where we kill confidence because the few privileged are benefiting from creating these financial instruments and creating these devaluations. we will always see flight and instability in the currency markets. Right? So that for me is fundamentally what confidence confidence confidence that's brilliant.

Please I'll close with you with the same question. How do you think in your perspective and with the risk you know investing in Africa in the Caribbean uh across the value chain to actualize this industrialization?

I I agree with that answer. I think that confidence has to be at the end of the day there are ways to to give confidence whether it's ensuring it or whether it's giving a certainty of liquidity in the banking system. Uh I I that is a major issue in any fast growing nation uh is the liquidity and then the currency fluctuation certainly doesn't help. Um, so it is a complex problem and and frankly it's above my pay grade. But but I will say that I hope and I'm hopeful that you know the thesis of cryptocurrency and and pegged instruments that allow for blockchain and allow for trading instantaneously of value stored value will help to solve that problem. But again, I I am not an economist. I'm just an investor. But it it it it certainly is is an issue that I have concern about where I'm doing business. Um there are dollar liquidity issues fairly regularly >> um because of the volume of dollars that are trading hands. And you know, I'm going as far as trying to bring large institutions that handle a lot of foreign exchange and provide liquidity into the country for me, right? to help me and everybody else that needs that help because that that problem exists. Where there's a problem, there should be a solution. I just don't know that I'm qualified to to talk to what the ultimate solution will be. But it certainly is a risk. And and when capital is being invested, >> the first thing that you hear is, >> is the risk worth the reward? Is the juice worth the squeeze? >> And sometimes it's political risk. And political risk doesn't always mean civil war or or or war or outbreak. political risk can also mean financial risk, banking system risk, currency risk, policy risk, um and and again the role of the sovereign. Um, but that those are the real risks that capital is considering every day when they're looking at for the same return that I'm going to get to invest in someplace I know, I understand, I'm comfortable with, I'm going to take more risk >> all of these other variables >> for the same return. or maybe the return is you know higher 20% higher if that juice is not worth the squeeze is where the the capital gets jammed up and stops and people don't always understand that.

Amazing. Thank you. Thank you Dash. You always start with this is above your pay grade. you are not sure but then you you always go on to you know provide a lot of insight um around the question but you know Z I I'll round up with you as well on on the same question from your perspective you know how do how do you think we can you know the risk investing in Africa across the value chain from from extracting raw material to to being fully industrialized

the greatest untapped sovereign wealth fund in my eyes from where I stand is the diaspora. We haven't done a very good job managing our diaspora and giving them a reason to come and commit in ways that we know they can. If you look at what happens, a diaspora is they're masters at sending money back home. >> But everyone, it's not always for investment purposes, but it should be. But if there's a grave disrespect for those funds that are being sent back, you won't have the support of the diaspora. They won't take the risk. >> So we need to do a better job stepping out of our comfort zone to convince the diaspora that this is very much a part of yours. You're entitled to it. You're more than welcome to come home because if if the diaspora doesn't come home and invest, guess who does? The West. and they come and take advantage even in a more effective way than those who really want to come home and be convinced that they're really a part of the economic infrastructure. So I just for me it's it has to be a very strong emphasis and focus on managing the diaspora and having them come back and make their contributions. I wouldn't really put them in a position to to take advantage of them, but I would definitely focus on offering more equity to them. This is where the value really lies.

Awesome. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Uh I think we've come to the end of this session. I want to specially thank my panelists for all their insight that they've shared uh today. uh we've tried to delve into the topic of how to industrialize Africa from you know resource to actually you know extracting this actual re return from them and some of the insight we've shared here today include the fact that the problem is not that we are not resource rich or there's no capital but you know capital chases structure we also spoke about trade finance and other financial structures as potential solutions to is uh we mentioned the role of DFIs you know looking at the potential of investing in import substitution as you know uh some of the strategies to actualize this objective and then we spoke about the the role of human capital how do we fill the skill gap I think he mentioned how we can leverage our huge diasporan population as well as capital to also support. And then we spoke about the role of government and how we can you know focus on derisking this because you know risk return profile always go together and you want to be sure that the return is worth the risk and of course government uh structures can help derisk some of this investment. And I think you know if some of these things are put into consideration we may just be on our way to accelerating cuz I think this whole process have started but we need to accelerate the process of getting to where we want to be in terms of industrializing Africa. Thank you very much everyone for your audience. Thank you panelists. Ladies and gentlemen, that is what real conversations look like. Not just ideas, but a path to execution. Let's give them another round of applause. And as they take their pictures, I will read the bio for our next speaker. We turn our attention to agriculture. Agriculture employs most Nigerians, more Nigerians than any other sector. It feeds families, anchors rural economies, and holds the potential to transform Nigeria from a food importing nation into one of the great agricultural exporters of the world. And yet, for decades, one of the most consistent barriers to realizing that potential has been a simple and stubborn one. Banks would not lend to farmers. The risks were perceived as too high. The returns too uncertain, the sector too complex. Narsal was created to change that calculus and the man before us today is one of the leaders driving that change. Mr. I emoy serves as executive director of the Nigeria incentivebased risk sharing system for agricultural lending nearal the central bank of Nigeria's $500 million non-bank financial institution established to derisk agricultural lending fix value chains and make Nigeria's agriculture sector genuinely bankable does not lend directly Instead, it provides risk guarantees, technical assistance, insurance mechanisms, and incentives that give commercial banks the confidence to deploy capital into agricultural value chains they would otherwise avoid. His work sits at the mo at one of the most critical intersections in Nigeria's economic development between the financial sector and the food system between the ambitious between the ambitions of smaller holder small holder farmers and the capital markets that could fund them. He brings to that intersection both institutional knowledge and a genuine commitment to the sector's transformation. Ladies and gentlemen, speaking on the topic building the financial architecture for AfroCaribbean agricultural trade, lessons from near south's journey. Please welcome Mr. Iwen Imo

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Um, it's a pleasure to be here. Um, I can see a lot of colors and and bright smiley faces. Uh, and I'm very happy that um I've been given a slot that sort of segus or leads into the entertainment section. So um I hope I can have your attention for about 15 minutes um to quickly run through what our organization does and how we can support our grow the trade uh relationships between Africa and the Caribbean with respect to agriculture. Um I'll start with protocols. Um so I think I'll first start with um the honorable minister of agriculture, fisheries and marine resources of St. hits uh honorable Samuel Duggin. Um I also want to acknowledge uh the panelists just now Mr. Wio Lucy, Mr. Darian Dash, Adam, Malai, M Fer, and Gen. Um, and then our esteemed hosts uh and the conveners of AACIS 26. Um, that's Aquarian Consult Aly led by the Dashing GMD um Miss Aisha. Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, all protocols duly observed. The title of this uh address as um the the MC outlined is building the financial architecture for AfroCaribbean agricultural trade lessons from Nurell's journey. I bring you warm regards from Nurell PLC and the esteemed regards of our managing director CEO Mr. Sad Hamid who's unavoidably absent on a pres-scheduled engagement outside Abuja. It's both an honor and a privilege to stand before this distinguished gathering of leaders at the intersection of policy, finance, and food systems to discuss how we can build the financial architecture required to unlock agricultural trade between Africa and the Caribbean. At first glance, both regions are richly endowed. Africa holds approximately 65% of the world's uncultivated arable land while the Caribbean possesses fertile agroecological zones and a clear ambition to strengthen domestic production and reduce food imports. Yet despite this abundance, both regions continue to face food deficits. Agricultural trade imbalances remain significant and trade between Africa and the Caribbean is still a fraction of its potential. The question before us is therefore whether we have not whether we have the capacity to produce. The question is why this potential remains largely untapped and how we can translate it into structural production and sustainable trade. To move from production from potential to production and from production to trade we must first understand what is missing. What is often described as a financing gap and I think I you know quite a number of the panelists spoke to this earlier on is in reality a structural systems gap and at the heart of this gap lies the financial architecture. The financial architecture is not just the presence of capital. It is the coordinated system of institutions, instruments and market structures that enable capital to flow efficiently across agricultural value chain from production to aggregation to processing and ultimately to trade in a functional system. This architecture brings together producers, aggregators, processors, financial institutions, insurers, logistic providers, commodities exchanges, regulators, and standard bodies, all operating within a coordinated framework where risks are understood, priced, and managed. However, in many developing agricultural systems, including Nigeria's historically, this architecture is fragmented. Banks and producers exist within within the same system but are unable to effectively transact due to knowledge and information asymmetries that that did not enable the appropriate assessment and price of of risk and which ultimately hindered capital flows. It was this structural disconnect that necessitated the creation of a specialized risk sharing institution designed to play a critical role and catalytical risk sharing role within the agricultural sectors financial architecture. The Nigerian incentivebased risk sharing system for agricultural lending nural PLC was devised by the central bank of Nigeria and incorporated in 2013 to derisk and facilitate financing to agricultural value chains in Nigeria. Prior to Nursel, agricultural lending in Nigeria was in structural decline and stood at about 1.78% of banking sector lending in 2011. Despite agriculture contributing over 20% of the nation's GDP, financial institutions had steadily reduced their exposure to the sector due to high default rates and weak visibility. What nurs sought to achieve was to re a reversal of the bank lending trend by restoring lender confidence through structured and targeted de-risisking. So nurs's operations are upheld by four coordinated pillars. First risk sharing where a significant portion of credit risk is absorbed through guarantees reducing potential losses for lenders. Second, technical assistance, building the capacity of both financial institutions and value chain participants to structure, assess, and manage agricultural transactions effectively. Third, insurance advocacy, ensuring that key production and climate risks are transferred through appropriate insurance instruments. And the fourth is performance incentives, aligning behavior across the ecosystem to encourage sustained participation in agricultural lending. Since inception, nurs has facilitated over 300 billion naira in agricultural financing from private financial institutions. Critically, this has been achieved with non-performing facilities of less than 1% demonstrating that agriculture whilst perceived as risky can be financed at scale without compromising asset quality. It has supported the production of over 800,000 metric tonses of food and commodities. It has expanded participation of commercial banks and it has supported the growth of bank lending to agriculture from about 1% at it inception to about 5% in 2025. While this journey continues, it has to date unearthed some nuance institutional and systemic insights some of which are relevant to Africa Africa Africa agricultural trade and are shared below. The first lesson is risk sharing as a foundation. The first and most critical lesson is the role of risk sharing. Agriculture was perceived as high-risisk and financial institutions responded rationally by limiting exposure. The introduction of credit risk guarantees fundamentally changed this dynamic and by risk sharing nal restored lending confidence. Importantly, it is it did not elimmit eliminate losses completely uh but with disciplined risk management losses have been contained to around about 1% of the total guaranteed amount. This demonstrates a key principle which is that agricultural finance scales not when risk is avoided but when it's appropriately understood, dimensioned and shared. Lesson two, technical assistance and knowledge systems. The second lesson is the importance of bridging knowledge gaps and more importantly institutionalizing knowledge within the system. On one side, producers often lack access to best economic practices, efficient operational models and quality management systems. On the other, financial institutions often lack a grander understanding of agricultural value chains limiting their ability to assess and structure transactions. Nursel addresses these challenges through large-scale capacity building and to date has trained over 300,000 value chain actors and over 14,000 financial institution staff. Beyond training, a deliberate effort has been made to build deep value chain intelligence. NES has developed over 20 detailed value chain studies covering key commodities from staple crops such as rice and grains to export oriented value chains. These studies provide end-to-end insights into production cycles, cost structures, market dynamics, and risk factors. In addition, tailored financing frameworks have been developed to guide financial institutions in structuring transactions aligned with the realities of specific value chains. A notable enhancement to this knowledge architecture is the development of agriculture commodity ecological areas. ACA ACA is a geospatial mapping system that identifies the most suitable locations for specific agricultural commodities based on ecological and economic factors. By aligning production with natural comp comparative advantage, including soil conditions, climate patterns, and resource availability, ACA improves productivity, enhances quality, and significantly reduces production risk for financial institutions. This provides an additional layer of confidence as lending decisions can be anchored on scientifically informed production zones. The impact of this combined approach has been significant and it has reduced information asymmetry, improved structuring and made agricultural lending more accessible and predictable. The key lesson here is agricultural finance becomes scalable when knowledge is deliberately de developed, codified and embedded within the system and when productivity is intelligently aligned with ecological advantage. Lesson three clustering and structured production. The third lesson is the need to address fragmentation. Small non-ontiguous production systems limit scale, increase costs and constrain financing through clustering, including geospatial cooperatives that engage small holder farmers. Nursel aggregated production into structured systems supported by technologies such as the use of drones and a proprietary agricultural risk management system, ARMS. The the ARMS is a software as a service tool that provides nearreal-time field reporting across the entire production life cycle by integrating key elements such as farmer enrollment, field mapping and input distribution and project monitoring. ARMS provides the oversight necessary to manage these large clusters effectively. Ultimately, this tech enabled structuring led to larger transa transaction sizes, better monitoring, improved quality control and efficient aggregation. In essence, agriculture becomes scalable and financable when production is organized and collective rather than fragmented. Building on this foundation, Nurs proceeded to the development of a formalized land bank. A structured database of verified, available, largely contiguous arable land across different regions within the country. To date, over 100,000 hectares of land has been successfully mapped nationwide. The land bank is supported by a digital portal that provides critical information to stakeholders including location specific map land suitable crops for each region and estimated cost of production for various commodities. This integrated platform enables investors to make informed decisions, supports efficient resource allocation and strengthens the overall agricultural investment ecosystem. Lesson four, insurance as a risk transfer mechanism. The fourth lesson is the importance of insurance. in collaboration with a consortium of Nigerian insurance underwriters and with regulatory support from the National Agricultural Insurance Commission. Nurs introduced a number of innovative agricultural insurance products, namely the Nurell Area Yield Index Insurance, Nurell Comprehensive Index Insurance, Nursell hybrid weather yield index insurance, and the Nursell hybrid multiparel crop insurance. These products were specifically designed with insurance stakeholders to identify gaps and challenges limiting the adoption of insurance by farmers and producers. The area yield induction insurance product specifically has covered over 1.8 million farmers and has enabled compensation for yield losses, stability for farmers and improved repayment capacity for financing. Lesson five, universality and replicability. The final lesson is that these challenges are not unique. They are structural and common across developing economies, including in Africa and in the Caribbean nations. As a case in point, Nursol has supported the development of similar risk sharing institutions in Ghana and Togo, demonstrating that an effective financial architecture can be replicated across borders. It is also important to emphasize that financial architecture is not static. To be relevant to emerging realities, it must evolve continuously through innovation, research, product development, and knowledge sharing. As a specialized institution, Nurser remains committed to strengthening the architecture over time, ensuring that it remains responsive, efficient, and scalable. So the question now is how do we translate these lessons into actions that support Africa Caribbean agricultural trade and several pathways emerge. The first is the co-development of a risk sharing institution similar to nuro to support African Caribbean agricultural initiatives. Like I said we've done this with in Ghana and Togo and we're also looking currently at a number of East African and Southern African nations to support in this area. The second is structured production partnerships including the development of trade corridors, joint export and financing platforms. And I recall yesterday the MD of the Bank of Agriculture speaking to potential in cocoa value chain and a dedicated financing window for Africa Caribbean agricultural trade and this is uh an initiative that we certainly at Nurser will be in support of. We could also consider climate smart agricultural initiatives, integrated insurance frameworks and knowledge exchange platforms. Now to move from concept to actualization, it may be useful to identify opportunities for immediate collaboration through practical high impact projects. One of such opportunities linked to our land bank initiative is a large-scale irrigationbacked agricultural development currently being advanced in Nigeria in partnership with the presidential implementation committee on technology transfer. The project with a potential of up to 40,000 hectares is designed as a fully integrated and technology enabled production platform. Phase one will commence with 10,000 hectares driven by private sector participation and supported by irrigation systems that enable up to three production cycles per year. It brings together irrigation infrastructure, structured land use, community participation, financial institutions and global technical partners. The model is designed to crowd in producers and investors from across all regions including Africa and the Caribbean and it pro provides a practical platform for structured production export oriented agriculture and cross regional trade and importantly it can serve as a proof of concept for Africa Caribbean collaboration. Ladies and gentlemen, as I conclude, we often speak about agricultural potential, but potential does not feed populations and it does not drive trade. Only bankability does. The lessons are clear. Risk must be dimensioned and shared, knowledge must be built, production must be organized, and systems must be aligned. The opportunity before us is not simply to take steps towards increasing trade. It is to deliberately design the systems that make that trade possible. Nurs stands ready to support the development of robust financial architecture to share its experience and to work with stakeholders across Africa and the Caribbean to build systems that are practical, scalable and impactful. The tools exist and the models are proven. What is required now is commitment and coordinated action. Thank you for your kind attention. very insightful lessons from Missile's journey building the financial architecture for AfroCaribbean agricultural trade. eat. Thank you. Poetry writes our history. spoken word carries our voice. And under one vision, one purpose, one unity, Africa and the Caribbean do not just speak, we echo. Taking us further in the spirit of culture, expression, and identity. Please make welcome a moment of spoken word and poetry with the global poets. Now, before you clap, cuz we're not supposed to clap, I looked up why doing poetry and spoken word clapping is not done. And apparently it's cuz it can break rhythm or emotion. So please again, we're apparently supposed to snap our fingers. Yes. So can we try that? So let's make welcome the global poets. No. Snap. Snap. Thank you. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Here's the gun shots. Hey, over. Yes. We shall over to you. This is the place where everything changes. On land, a mother screams for a son that will never be returned to her. Her son echoes her whale beneath the waves because drowning is a better option than being a slave. We know the gun has a taste for children like us. It does the impossible. Turns a black boy to ash. Steals a child away from its mother. Turns off the light in those watchtower eyes. We are forced to row, row, row this boat gently down a stream. But this dream is the one nightmare you cannot pinch yourself awake from. We are forced to forget our kin, to watch our people die in their own filth. On another man's ship, we are forced to be less human and more cargo. We are forced to forget our spirit, our grit, only until they need it. We are forced. They throw a tower of babel into our mouths and steal our sound so we forget what our father sound like. Tell me, did God give these black bodies so we could blend into the earth? An extension of our skin, holding us when nothing else will. It has held too many of my people in graves too shallow to give the illusion of a mother's embrace. When I step, I'm not sure which part is land and which part is a body. We are forced. We were stolen. How do you tear a people away from their home? You must first take away what they know, replace it, destroy it, play God and mold their new identities like clay. Leave them at the shore and tell them who they are. Who you are until you become the peak they aspire to climb, the height they can never reach. You yourself a pedestal upon their backs and make them your foottool. Make your own Adam and Eve, your own creation story, your own your own Hey. Oh my. Oh my. Oh my. Play the name of my name. Come on. OKAY. Now it run down. No one can hold power for long when it wasn't theirs to take. No one can break a people who are still connected to the spirit of their land across all seas. Our people are not alien to one another. We are reclaiming what was stolen. Like the sun stealing the sky away from the night, shining its light. Watch how we alchemize. Regardless of what they will have us believe, we know the truth. Do you not see how this earth colors our skin with her love? This melanini is a testament that we are now children of both soil and sea, past and future. Building new bridges of trust, rewriting our stories in our own words. We return to each other like the ocean to the shore. We could never have been kept apart. We return to each other with songs that turn our sorrows into strategy. We return to each other no longer bound to the sound of chains clanking between our feet. We return to each other free. So let this be our testimony. The sea does not forget the bodies he carried away but number. >> This is not a tragedy. And we are no longer victims. We return in glory. And this time we steer the ships. This time we are not cargo, not product. We produce. We translate innovations across the transatlantic oceans that failed to drown. And how poetic is that? That we would always have found our way back to one another. The systems we implement today are for us, by us, and for all who will come after this time. No one can take it away. No one can take it away. No. See, your ancestors have cleared the path for your return. Heat. Heat. Hey, come on. Now, I know I said we could snap, but I think that deserves an applause now. >> So, Abby, yes. >> Have you ever written a poem? >> Have I written a poem? Well, I used to much when I was much younger. Didn't really see the light of day. But fun fact, I have a twin sister. She used to do a lot of that. But she doesn't do that anymore. I just used to see the poems here. What about you? You >> I have Well, I used to used to >> I used to listening to her reminds me of an event that used to take place in St. Kits. It was a wonderful event. It was hosted by Minister of Creative Economy and Agriculture, Honorable Samuel Duggin. It was called Island Expressions. >> Oh, love it. >> And it allowed creatives to express themselves. I was never brave enough to take the stage. >> Oh, >> but it was a wonderful event. >> Oh, beautiful. Beautiful. >> Well, um, I and Ka were backstage and we're like, you know what? Since I used to like poems, she used to write poems. You might as well just make something happen. So, we decided to do something very special because of the audience. So, I and Kala wrote a poem. Would you like to hear it? Kala, are you ready? We can do this. We can We can do this. We can do this. Not divided by water, not broken by time. Our stories may differ, but our rhythm is rhyme. One voice, one vision, rising in unity. Africa and the Caribbean, one community. Together we build what the past could not see. >> A future of strength, of pride, and possibility. You're not. >> Thank you, Carla. We need to reconsider. Maybe maybe maybe next year it could be also the stage here. We'll definitely be ready. Variety they say, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, is the spice of life. >> I dare say I and my lovely co-ming job, especially since the day started. We're going to be taking a back seat and handing over to another master of ceremony. And so we invite Dr. Yukuba to lead you in the next sessions. Thank you. Your excellencies, our distinguished investors, distinguished participants, ladies and gentlemen, I have the singular privilege and honor of being the only male compare right here at the Afrearibbean Investment Summit. I'd like to welcome you all to day four. If you're here for this event, can you jam those hands together, please? I would especially like to appreciate A and Kala. I think they did a good job with their poem, didn't they? Let's encourage them, please. Another hand for them. My name is Dr. Yakobu I'm a doctor by day, MC by night, and I'm a superhero all day. Clap if you want to clap. Please. When I'm on stage doing this, I love to be addressed as his royal highness. Please get it right the first time. HR, Africa's finest MC and events voso. And today I am privileged to stand at this intersection between the Caribbeans and Africa. Today I am privileged to stand at this summit as we step into the aspects of this summit that talk about health. I'd like to welcome you all especially to this this moment of this summit because um at this point in time we are turning our focus to the heartbeat of the economy. The heartbeat of the economy is health. If your workforce is not healthy, you cannot build a strong economy. If you agree with me, please say yeah. Yeah. >> Thank you very much. But we're going to be taking a special look at Ialth as we're looking at the theme, the value of vision. You know, in investment, investment just like the investment summit, uh vision can be looked upon as seeing the harvest even while the ground is still bare. But in health, in eye health, we usually do an exercise to appreciate the value of vision. I ask people to stand up and shut their eyes for about 15 seconds, take a step away from their seats and see if they are able to find their ways back to their seats. And in just those few seconds, they are able to appreciate the value of health. Those are some of the things we're going to be talking about between these two regions of the world. I'm talking about Africa and the Caribbeans. But today, as we look at health, we're talking about the difference between treating a symptom and then curing a continent from tomorrow's blindness. All right. So, we're here not just to define infrastructure and talk about budgets, but we're also going to be looking at how foresight transforms medical challenges into sustainable high value opportunities that both Africa and the Caribbeans can enjoy. And so, as we rise from this summit, there are other things we shall be talking about. There's a term in Nigeria we call the Jakba syndrome. That's a Euroba word for leaving the country. Jakba. All right. We are hoping that some of the conversations will touch on our human resource for health that tends to leave the shores of both Africa and the Caribbeans. We want to see how we can touch on medical tourism to reduce the flight the medical tourism out of our nations and become an attraction for medical tourism within Africa and the Caribbeans. And so as we arise from this summit, as we arise from this session of the summit, I believe that vision without action is just a dream and action without a vision is chaos. that is being bred. So I want us to leave this summit with our actions clearly clearly defined. Let our actions be bold. Let our partnerships be clinical and let our collective vision be realized. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome again to the Afrearibbean Investment Summit. Please a round of applause. Thank you. I'd like to go further by recognizing a few organizations here who have been critical stakeholders to Ialth especially in Nigeria and please if I call you if you're a representative I would love for you to just rise on your feet wherever you are so that other investors and our partners can see you and conversations can be started after this session. And so, do I have people from the Christian Blind Mission, CBM, please rise as we give them a round of applause? CBM, clap for them nonetheless, please. Thank you. Tulsi Chry, Tulsi Chennai. Our partners from Tulsi Chan, are they here? Please give them a round of applause. And these partners, I know that they are here because I can see the country director for sight savers, Professor Joy Schwebo. She's here with her eye health global technical lead, Dr. Selburn Pensen. Please give them a round of applause. We'd also like to recognize our partners from Chai. Chai, is Chai here? Helen Keller International, Helen Keller Foundation. I am informed that the director of programs, Joy Marcus, is here. Joy, where are you? Please wave at me. Okay. All right. We also informed that we have Nisamier Hospital. Nisamier Hospital, where are you? They're there. Please clap for them. You're welcome. All right, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. If you take a look at the agenda, we're going to be receiving some power statements from some power players in Nigeria. There are also going to be some technical sessions which we're going to start off with. We are starting off with a fireside chat and we're going to be talking about cancer pathway clinical staff and patient perspective for the cancer pathway. Let me welcome up to take her seat the moderator for this session. I will invite her up first. After that I will invite the other members of the panel. Please can we welcome Mrs. Chica or give her a round of applause as she comes. You know, I learned that if you clap louder and clap more, they come faster. They start running. She's already running. All right. Let me welcome a member of this panel who is a consultant pediatrician, a global cancer advocate and the founder and CEO of Medicaid Cancer Foundation, Nigeria's largest nonprofit providing free access to cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment support. She founded Medicaid radio radio diagnostics and clinics in 2009, the first comprehensive diagnostic center in Nigeria in Abuja when she returned from specialist training in the United Kingdom and found that the services her patients required and needed were simply non-existent. From the that beginning, she built a movement. The Medicaid Cancer Foundation has increased cancer awareness by 25% since 2008 and has raised over $2 million for cancer care and supported the vaccination of 13 million Nigerian girls against HPV, a campaign that she championed relentlessly at the highest level of government until it was finally achieved in 2020. Deserves a round of applause at that point. Okay. I think it's just both of us. That's perfect. >> I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, ma'am. I'm yet to introduce her fully. I was interrupted by some information that I needed to bring to us, which I'll pass in a short minute. She has been elected three times to the board of the Union for International Cancer Control, the world's largest and oldest global cancer organization. And in 2024, she was elected UIC Presidentelect, making her the first African ever to be appointed to lead that institution in the 90 in the 90 years history. She has said getting cancer on political agendas requires strategy and persistence. She has both in abundance. Please welcome the CEO and founder of Medicaid Cancer Foundation, Dr. Zena Shinkafi Bagodu. Please give her a round of applause. I will now hand over to uh Mrs. Chica of four as she takes over this session as the moderator. But just before she takes over, please if there is an empty seat in front of you for the optics, we would like you to fill it up. Okay? If there empty spaces in front of you, we like to form a more cohesive audience as we go further. So please, you will be kind. Thank you, Mrs. Chiko. Over to you. So while Mrs. Chik for is getting ready to start, I just want to recognize and to welcome the presence of the honorable minister of state for health and social welfare, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, let's give a big hand for Dr. Isak Adul Salakor. Please give him a round of applause. So while the minister gets comfortable, the honorable minister for state gets comfortable, let's start this fire chat, fireside chat. Mrs. Chica of over to you. >> Yes. Yes. Can you hear me? Yes. Our job is very simple today. Our job is very simple today and the question before us today is very simple. It is how do we build a cancer pathway that is systematic, patient centered and investable linking prevention, early detection, treatment and financing into one coordinated system across Africa and Caribbean. Today what is very very apt today is that ministry of health in in in in our health agenda we are talking about one plan one conversation and then today we are talking about one vision so you see there's a sink there's a sink I also wanted to say that unfortunately funding for cancer really be it Caribbean or Nigeria is mostly out of pocket market and it's not cheap and then early diagnosis is almost not there. Many times by the time people dictect that they have cancer is already stage four and stage three. So before I start let me just tell you a small story. My mother died from cervical cancer, a preventable disease. And the reason we lost her was because it was detected at stage four. And that's why we're having this conversation today. And what is very painful is that cervical cancer now has a vaccine, the HPV vaccine. So what happened to Nigeria really is that Nigeria lost a strong woman. Nigeria lost a businesswoman. Nigeria lost an investable cohort. Someone who was into business who did every business. A serial entrepreneur who had various businesses who built several houses who employed over a hundred people. So that's what disease does for whether it is in Caribbean or in Nigeria. So we are here today to discuss what are the pathways, what do we need to do, what are the challenges, what exactly is the problem and there's no greater person to have this conversation than my sister here Dr. Bagudu. I want to say something about her before I go on. She has Medicaid, a diagnostic center. And I can tell you for free that many people that use that center do use it for free. I know because I know someone who has used it for free and on top of that she has funded many cancer treatments as well. Please clap for her. So right now we have the right kind of person to have this conversation. So my sister Dr. Bagodi, let me ask you one question. The question we want to ask the pathway for cancer treatment, can you explain the setting from symptoms to treatment? What does it how

Does it go? Because from what we can see, many people still die from cancer. People detect late. Even when they detect early, they can't afford it. So there's an emotional part. There's a systemic problem. There's a pathway that is not clear. So please, can you just explain to us what should that pathway be and what are the bottlenecks that you feel that prevent these things from going in the way it should go?

Thank you so much, my dear sister. It's an honor to be on stage. Congratulations, and I welcome our guests, uh brothers and sisters from the Caribbean, to Abuja, to Nigeria, and all our other guests. I'm sure this whole meeting has highlighted the commonalities that exist between the two continents and how we can work together across various sectors. I'd like to acknowledge the presence of the honorable minister of state for health, my boss. Anybody in health is my boss, and so, uh, you're welcome. It's great to see you here. And it's, um, it's a very, should I say, difficult but simple question. The answer will resonate with most of us in the room. I'm sorry about your mom. However, each and every one of us here in this room will share a similar story. It's not your mom; it's somebody within six degrees of separation from you. The typical story across the spectrum is that we have low awareness, low knowledge, and so detection is usually a bit late. Um, most of our cases in cancer, the commonest cancer in Nigeria today, and indeed most low-middle-income countries, uh, Africa and Caribbean inclusive, is breast cancer. Prostate cancer, cervical cancer follow closely after that. Uh, the detection occurs late, and the diagnostic capacity of our health system is not optimal. The screening and the gathering of patients to screen routinely for these cancers is not optimal, and as such, it is projected by that that by the year 2030, Africa will see an increase in cancers up to 70% with a similar death rate predicted for the Caribbean. So these are some of the commonalities that we have.

Access to care is, um, one of the biggest issues in that patients do pay out of pocket for care. There are a lot of efforts by non-governmental organizations like ourselves, by government, and by industry to create better access, to create funding mechanisms that will improve the diagnostic pathway, that will improve the treatment, and even palliative care. However, due to the high burden as well as the, uh, the number of persons that we're talking about, and then you balance it against all the other priorities that government has to deal with. We've heard about agriculture today. We've heard about infrastructure. So, as leaders, it's, it can be difficult to prioritize a single disease and appropriate the required funding. Some of the steps that have been taken in Nigeria include the establishment of a cancer health fund, the establishment of a chemotherapy access program, and including cancer care at various stages, various levels in the national health insurance scheme. Can it be better? Definitely. Are we doing something? Definitely. And a lot more needs to be done. And I think that we have the, as advocates, our role is to highlight the importance of doing this. And as an investment summit, one of the things that we look at when we talk about cancer, in particular the preventable ones, is the, the amount that you're investing now to look at it and the returns that you stand to gain. You spoke about the HPV vaccine. It's one of the vaccines that has thankfully been introduced into Nigeria in a very successful way. Um, we now have over 16 million girls between the ages of 9 and 14 that have been vaccinated with the HPV vaccine. We got it a bit late. Uh, I think we're in the third year now, but the National Primary Healthcare Agency is doing a fantastic job in perspective across the entire African continent. Before Nigeria came on board, just under 6 million girls have been introduced. In 3 years, we've done 16 million. This is a huge, huge success. Do we have more to do? Yes. And the issues, but what, there are a lot of issues that they're facing in trying to give the vaccine to the girls. High on the list is misinformation and the notion that, you know, there's there's some ulterior motive behind giving the vaccine. The investment case for cervical cancer is about $15. For each dollar that you invest today, you have stand to make a return of $15 in three years' time. So if we put it that way, maybe the finance experts will come on board with us and help us to get somewhere there. So I'll stop here just to give a brief.

Okay, that's fantastic. And then it's, it's good to know that because HPV vaccine is available to support the prevention of cervical cancer, the Nigerian government has put it as part of its routine vaccination program for 9-year-olds. What it means invariably is that a 9-year-old girl can walk into a primary healthcare center and get vaccinated. Let's clap for Nigeria. And then, but, but guess what? Vaccines are not free. They are bought by the country and given to its citizens free. That's what is happening. So if vaccines are not free, it means that they must be purchased. Nigeria presently has some support from international organizations like Gavi that supports Nigeria, brings some of the money. It's a co-financing pattern, a, a co-financing pathway where Gavi brings some of the funding. Nigeria brings some of the funding for them to be able to purchase, uh, these vaccines. But ironically, one would have thought that if such a thing is, is the best thing for its citizens, because we're all here today because everybody's well. If, if anybody has cancer and has to go through chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or any other disease, many people may not be able to come here today. One would have expected that having that, that funding for routine vaccines should have been ring-fenced. But it is not ring-fenced. Funding for vaccines is in the service-wide vote, struggling with every other thing when there's money, when there's no money. So now, with this in mind, we know that the government cannot do it alone. It's very obvious that the government cannot do it alone, and we are so happy that we have investors, ministers, and heads of countries in this particular summit. So what we're going to do today is, my sister, how do we make, convince everybody here and everybody online as well, that the cancer pathway is an investable pathway, starting from prevention to early detection to treatment to palliative care? So I want to ask you, uh, this question. Um, our former minister of finance, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, said that many MDAs come to ask to come to her, used to come to her then when she was minister of finance, to ask for different funding that was accrued to those ministries, departments, and all agencies, but nobody was able many people were not able to give her an investment case to see how that particular investment would affect the country's position positively. If, for instance, we have, we people who are not ill, who don't have cancer, at least cervical cancer now is preventable. We have people who don't have cervical cancer, for instance, it means that they will not go to hospital. Treatment is far more expensive than prevention, am I correct? They will not go to hospital. People can go to their farms, people can do agriculture, people can do any kind of investment, but all that goes south, south, if there's no health. So Dr. Bakudu, we have been presented with a very formidable bold period. How do we convince these people? How do we convince everybody here that the cancer pathway is an investable pathway, starting from prevention?

I wish I had that magic answer and I had the magic to do that. But there are different aspects to convincing, and it depends on who we're talking to. By making an investment case is always a good place to start. Convenings like this, and including health in the agenda, including cancer and non-communicable diseases in the agenda at all times, is always a good idea. And one thing that I would like to talk about that is very, very pertinent that we often just pay symbolic attention to is the power of lived experience. We have so many people amongst us that have survived, that have battled and survived cancer, and their experience and what they went through is always a good, uh, stimulation to policymakers, to investors, to even the medical professionals to listen to and to try to do something about. Another aspect that we often underplay is the legislators. Our laws are very good, uh, but we don't have them, uh, very clear. And even the legislators that are supposed to be pushing for oversight and to ensure that the funds that are appropriated to cervical, to this, to that, are adequately spent, do not really understand. So, by pulling them together and organizing training classes for them, uh, sessions, and making them see exactly where we're trying to get to, is a good step as well. Shared experiences. We're here today. I've met a lot of very, very, very, you know, experienced doctors and nurses, healthcare professionals from the Caribbean. At the UIC, we've had some of them as, uh, in the young leaders program. And this, this is something that we should look at. If nothing else, as we stand up from this session today, let us look at how we can share experiences. I don't know if there are health professionals amongst the delegation. Let them come and look around our hospitals, look at our systems, and share and look at how we can improve or even learn from each other so that we can have better outcomes. And in a way, this will help them if they have, uh, potential investors. If we have potential investors, we can come together and look at it. Uh, recently, there's been a stimulation to have a global cancer health, uh, funding, and I think that is going very well. Nigeria is participating in this. The honorable minister of state was at that meeting. And if the world can come together the way it did for HIV. Yes, HIV is an infectious disease, and it's not as cancer is not something that people rise up to, but the numbers that we're seeing is just as bad. So if we, the world can come together and look at how to create a pool, which is being done right now through diaspora remittances and using other types of, um, innovative financing mechanisms, then we are likely to have, uh, more traction in funding cancer.

Okay, thank you very much. That's very well said. Um, there was something that happened last year where the diaspora doctors came together and reached out to some organizations in Nigeria to see how to strengthen, they to support the government to strengthen the primary healthcare. But what they wanted was very clear. They wanted transparency. What are the things that the government is supposed to do? The federal government has a role to play. The state government also has a role to play. And then what is left? It is clear that the government cannot do it alone, and that the diaspora, probably the diasporans are also willing to help because for every diasporan, they have sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers who are in Nigeria, and then they want a healthcare system that actually works and it will give them peace of mind wherever they are. If the Nigerian healthcare system is strengthened, and they are willing to support that system. So what they said they wanted at that time, and they are still on it, is first and foremost, Nigeria must have a ring-fenced funding for health. That is, if there's routine vaccination, then it cannot be sitting in service-wide vote; it must be a first-line charge. Secondly, the states must also support to fund health as well. The National Assembly also have a part to play. And then the accountability systems must be very transparent. And then the most important question: what is in it for them? First and foremost, for prevention, it's high impact, low, you, you spend so little. How can the investors come in? Diagnostic centers. Nigeria, Nigeria, for instance, we're over 200 and something million. Many, many diagnostic centers are doing well and are making a lot of money. Am I correct? You have one.

We're not making any money.

No, your own case, your own is an NGO because you're using it, you're using it to just help people. But when other people come in and look at it as a real investment, it's a money-making machine, or you don't think so?

No, it can be. I saw an article recently that says that we are turning over about $600 million.

Any?

$600 million?

Yes. In Nigeria because we have the numbers, uh, so properly directed, it definitely is.

Properly directed, we are seeing $600 million. So investors, that's a good place to start. And then for treatment, cancer treatment, and then palliative care. Palliative care in Nigeria, it's minimalist.

It's minimal.

So there's a lot of money to be made around palliative care. So we are asking the investors, come to the Caribbean, come to Nigeria, build palliative care units, and then you will make money. Many diasporans will not mind putting their family members into those palliative care structures, such a way that they can pay funding. So there's money to be made in health. Let me talk like Okonjo. Convince me that what I am doing will benefit the country. So I hope we'll be able to convince you that immunization, vaccines are so, so, so important. Support in the purchase of those vaccines, support in early detection. That's where the diagnostic center comes in, support in terms of treatment, and then support in palliative care. There, there's business in these places. And you know the thing, once somebody is ill, every other thing stops.

Mhm.

So it's very, very important that we take this. So I'm very happy that our minister for state for health is here, and he's listening to us, and he's also with us because most of the things I'm saying today is from the office of the ministry of health. So, but we're asking you, sir, please, how do we ring-fence funding for, uh, for health? How do we ring-fence funding for routine vaccination? Because prevention is where you have the topmost level. How do we ring-fence those funding? How do we get the states also to chip in? A lot of money is going to the states. The states have to chip in. It is only after we have done this, then we can now go to the private sector, and we're talking to the private sector today to say, we know that there's money to be made in health, from prevention to early detection through the, uh, um, the labs, to treatment, to palliative care. All these things have not been scaled, both in Nigeria and in the Caribbean. So it's time to scale it up. It's an investment that will work. Let's go there. So, Dr. Bagudu, what are your last comments?

Well, um, we are starting well. Uh, we are doing lots of work. Uh, the conversation between the two regions of the world is, uh, long overdue. We need to come together, look at our, our common ground, and work better together so that we can pull investment power, particularly in the health sector. And for me, as an advocate, as it has to do with cancer, we, it sounds so cliché all the time, but we say it, and I will repeat it. Governments cannot do it alone. We must look at innovating financing mechanisms. We must look at philanthropic giving and other means of fundraising for us to be able to care for our population better. And I'm sure that there are many people in this audience that, uh, can rise to that challenge. So those would be my last words.

Thank you very much. So I hope we have been able to convince you that health is investable, that cancer is an investable sector. So bring, bring your money and come and invest in health, and you will not lose. So, um, I also wanted to say that we have what we call the basic healthcare provision fund, and then we have the insurance as well, and many other pathways that can be invested in. Thank you very much, everyone. Clap for us now. Yes. Yes. Can we give Mrs. Chika and as well as Dr. Zena Bagudu a round of applause? Please encourage them. Our convenor, come to take a photo shoot with them as they wrap up this fireside chat. Cancer pathway, clinical staff, and patient perspective. And we're leaving that conversation with some calls to action like support the purchase of vaccines, support palliative care, and scale up treatment for cancer. Thank you so much, Medicaid, as well as Mrs. Chika Offer. Okay, let us invite the honorable minister of state for health to join them for this photo. Please feel free to smile. Thank you. Who are the people responding to my call to action for them to feel free to smile? Smile where you are. Okay. That's right. Okay. Yes. So, while they take their seats, I want to seize this opportunity to just recognize a few other people who are here in the hall and seated. Um, I saw on the honorable minister of state for health's entourage coming in, the national coordinator for the National Ear and Sensory Functions Health Program from the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Okoolo. Please give her a round of applause. Please clap for her. You're welcome. Good to see you, ma'am. We also have here the registrar for the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria, Pharmacist Ibrahim Babashu Ahmed. Please give him a round of applause. You're welcome, sir. You're welcome. Glad to have you. I'm informed that the program officer, Programs Unit for Christian Blind Mission, Mr. David Adeka, is here. Please give him a round of applause as he stands. We see you. Thank you. Thank you. We also want to recognize and welcome a consultant ophthalmologist from the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Dr. David Jeba. Please give him a round of applause. Where are you, sir? Dr. David Abba. Okay. It's important that we identify all of these stakeholders because we, one of the outcomes that we expect from this summit is networking. We want to know who and who is in the room so that we can form, uh, carry on the conversations after now, uh, uh, when the session is over. All right. I'd like us to move further at this point at the summit as we take a look at the vision, the value of vision, and where, um, the, the sub-theme for that is scaling Afro-Caribbean human capital through eye health. Uh, I would like to, uh, welcome the moderator of this session to come take her seat before I welcome the other members of the panel. The moderator is a consultant ophthalmologist and a professor of public health ophthalmology at the University of Nigeria. She has over two decades of experience in clinical care, research, and health system strengthening. Her work focuses on integrating eye health into primary healthcare as a driver of human capital and sustainable development. She is a Kofi Annan Global Health Leader, a fellow of the International Council of Ophthalmology, and she holds a PhD in primary eye care systems from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She has contributed to shaping national health policy in Nigeria and brings a systems-focused perspective to advancing equitable and scalable eye care. Ladies and gentlemen of AACIS26, let's welcome Professor Ada Agaji. Give her a round of applause, please. And just before she takes a seat, I want you to really get ready because when she comes, she really brings the fire. So just get ready for that. Politics who arrives, he arrives from the community, from years of walking the wards, listening to patients, understanding what health means, not as a policy abstraction, but as a lived daily reality for the people being served. This next speaker is indeed a public servant. He is the honorable minister of state for health and social welfare of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, appointed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and reassigned to the health portfolio in October 2024. He's a public health physician, a certified colposcopist, a sonologist, a health activist, a community mobilizer, a writer, and a radio presenter. I thought somebody would be clapping. He holds an MBBS from the University of Lagos, a Master of Public Health from Lagos State University, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Health Policy and Management. He was appointed commissioner in Osun State, uh, without being a member of any political party. We have to understate that solely on the basis of his merit and his community engagement, and went on to serve across the ministries of agriculture, housing, and health. Since taking up the health portfolio, he has been visible and vocal on oral health, on energy for health facilities, on diagnostics at the foundation of modern healthcare, and on the need to tackle blindness, cancer, and maternal health with both urgency and strategy. He is a minister who understands that the system he is working to improve is made of people. Please welcome the man that told me not to leave Nigeria. He told me not to japa. The honorable minister of state for health, Dr. Isah Akinwale Salako. Please give him a round of applause. Welcome. While he takes his seat, I'd like to welcome another panelist who is, who serves on the Montserrat minister, minister serves as the Montserrat minister of agriculture, lands, housing, environment, youth affairs, and sports. He has a portfolio that sits at the intersection of people, place, and well-being. While his ministerial responsibilities span critical sectors of national development, his work speaks directly to a broader and increasingly urgent conversation: the health of communities to shape a generation that is more informed, more resilient, and better equipped to lead healthier lives. Ladies and gentlemen, his approach reflects a holistic understanding of health, one that goes beyond clinical care to embrace prevention, sustainability, and community empowerment. His leadership underscores a simple but powerful truth: that foundations of a healthy society are laid not only in policy, but in how governments nurture the everyday conditions in which people live, grow, and thrive. Ladies and gentlemen, um, today, uh, this man represents the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness at this summit, where he's bringing with him the institutional knowledge, global network, and advocacy experience of one of the world's most impactful health alliances, impactful health alliances. I'm talking about the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. His presence here reflects that IAPB's recognition that the conversation about eye health cannot be separated from the broader conversation about health equity, economic development, and the well-being of communities across Africa and the Caribbean. He believes that vision is not a luxury; it is the gateway to education, to livelihood, to full participation in every dimension of social and economic life. When people cannot see, the consequences ripple through families and communities. When they can see, when the cataracts are removed, the glasses prescribed, the glaucoma treated, their entire futures open. Ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome the director of regional engagement, IAPB, Mr. Drew Keys. Give him a round of applause, please. Also on this panel from the same organization is a representative of IAPB that brings to this summit the clinical expertise, the systems understanding, and the field experience that the eye health conversation demands. Her work sits on the intersection of healthcare delivery, capacity building, and advocacy, ensuring not just that the clinical tools exist, but that the workforce, the infrastructure, and the political will are in place to deploy them when they are needed. In the context of the Afro-Caribbean health partnerships that this summit seeks to advance, her voice is an essential one, reminding us that universal health coverage means all of it: the eyes, the cancers, the maternal health, the mental health, all of it, the whole person. Please welcome the health financing advisor for Fred Hollows Foundation, all the way from Kenya, Dr. Gladys Rono. Give her a round of applause as she comes up. Last but not the least on this panel is one of Nigeria's most distinguished ophthalmologists and clinical scientists. She is a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Abuja, an associate professor of epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where she leads the glaucoma clinical and research network and is a member of the leadership group of the International Centre for Eye Health. She trained in medicine at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, right here in Nigeria. Completed her ophthalmology residency at the National Eye Centre in Kaduna, earned her PhD at the London School of Health and Tropical Medicine. She has spent 15 years building glaucoma programs across Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Uganda. She developed a comprehensive glaucoma management toolkit for sub-Saharan Africa, translated into French and Portuguese. She has been the West Africa chair and is now the Africa region chair for the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness. She led the national eye health policy for Nigeria and contributed to WHO's World Report on Vision. In 2024, she was appointed registrar and the CEO of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, Nigeria's equivalent of the General Medical Council, where she is now leading a strategic reform initiative for medical education and a major expanse of medical school training capacity. She is, in every dimension of that phrase, a leader in global eye health. Ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome the registrar and CEO, Professor Fatima Kyari. I believe the panel is complete. I hand over to the moderator, Professor Ada Agaji.

Hello. Are my slides ready? Are the slides ready? Okay, I'll speak extemporaneously. So, welcome everybody. Good day, Your Excellencies, honorable ministers, distinguished guests, colleagues, partners, stakeholders. It is a pleasure to welcome you all to this session of the Value of Vision: Investing in Eye Health for Afro-Caribbean Growth. First, let me ask, this is an investment summit. Why are we talking about eye health and vision? The answer is because good vision and eye health are fundamental to the way people learn, people work, people earn, and how they go about their everyday activities. I can see many people wearing glasses in this summit. And for many of us in this room, we have clear vision which we take for granted. We wake up in the morning, we check our phones, we go to work, we go about our normal activities without giving a thought to our eyes. But this is not the case for millions of people all over the world. And when I talk about millions, it's not just a statistic. They are people like the child in school who cannot see the blackboard and drops out of school. The trader who cannot read his prices and so makes, and he cannot make his trades and makes a catastrophic revenue loss. We talked about agriculture early in the day. Can you imagine a farmer who cannot identify viable seeds and so he plants an economically unproductive crop? Or the driver who has poor vision as he struggles to navigate the highways and ends up causing fatal car accidents, leading to loss of life and limb? So these are the consequences of poor vision, and yet simple solutions exist. Many of these conditions can be cured by a simple pair of glasses or by a short, cost-effective cataract operation. And when we provide these, something powerful changes. The child who could not see the blackboard sees the board, goes back to school, and becomes a productive member of society. The worker who lost his job from poor vision is reinstated and improves economic productivity. And the drivers who now have good vision can navigate the highways and prevent catastrophic accidents, preventing the loss of life and limb. And so this is not just about restoring vision; it's about restoring opportunity. Across Africa and the Caribbean, over 100 million people have vision loss, and that translates to 100 million lost opportunities. So when we look at the problem through that lens, the case for investment becomes obvious because when vision is restored, you can learn, you can earn, you can increase productivity. So it's not a matter of whether we can afford to invest in eye health. It is a matter of whether we can afford not to invest in eye health. The evidence is clear. We have the evidence. What we need is to translate this evidence into actionable policy. We need to translate policy into investment. We need to translate investment into eye health services at scale to unlock the value of vision and increase economic productivity. In November this year, the government of Antigua and Barbuda will be hosting the first-ever global summit on eye health, and they'll be bringing together heads of government, ministers, policymakers, investors to talk about how they can make commitments to investing in eye care to unlock economic productivity. This session, and indeed this summit, is an opportunity for us to begin to shape those commitments, to think practically about policy, investment, eye health services, and economic productivity. And I have no doubt that we will do justice to it at this summit because of the excellent array of speakers we have. So we'll begin with brief remarks, followed by a focused discussion, and conclude with clear commitments. So it is now my pleasure to invite Nigeria's honorable minister of state for health and social welfare, Dr. Isah Akinwale Salako, who, by the way, has given enormous and unprecedented support to eye care in Nigeria. I invite him to make the opening remarks. Thank you, honorable minister.

Honorable minister, sir. Thank you very much, Madame Moderator. Let me especially recognize my colleague, the Minister of Agriculture from St. Kitts and Nevis, and all the other eminent delegations across the Caribbean who are here present. My colleagues on the panel. Let me also recognize Auroran Consult for coming up with this very, very important platform. Um, it is not often that you get the health sector being given a prominent space in an investment summit. So I must especially thank Auroran Consult for strengthening the connection between us as Africans and our brothers in the Caribbean. When my colleague, the honorable minister of agriculture, was introducing himself, maybe from his accent, but otherwise, he looks more like a Nigerian. So thank you very much, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, gentlemen of the press. I am delighted to join this high-level investment summit that is focusing on the value of vision and that is designed to gather global leaders, policymakers, eye health experts, and give us an opportunity to bring together global attention to the critical importance of investing in comprehensive eye health for prevention, early detection, and care of eyes, of eye diseases, in order to preserve vision. Globally and in Nigeria, millions suffer from preventable blindness and visual impairment, which not only affect individuals but also hinder economic growth and societal development. We must therefore prioritize eye health as an integral part of our broader health agenda. It is incontestable that investing in eye care can yield significant economic returns through increased opportunities for education, productivity, and reduced healthcare costs. Studies have shown that for every one USD invested in global eye care, there are 28 to 36 USD return to the prevention of vision loss, improved quality of life, reduced burden on the healthcare system, more productivity, and so on. Enhanced eye care services is a panacea to promoting social inclusion, education, and overall well-being. In recognition of this far-reaching social economic impact, Nigeria has committed herself to improving eye health and reducing avoidable blindness. And we're making significant strides in eye health through several policy initiatives, programs, and projects, including the establishment of a national eye health program with eye desks at subnational levels and at the Federal Capital Territory. We have developed a national eye health policy and a national eye health strategic development plan 2024 to 2028, which set out roles and responsibilities and targets for eye health, and it is driving clinical and programmatic initiatives to address priority eye health conditions at all levels of care, including within the community. A notable presidential initiative aimed at providing 100% subsidized through the philanthropic model and affordable through the sustainable model spectacles to those in need, reducing visual impairment and promoting productivity, is being implemented under the Effective Spectacle Coverage Initiative, otherwise called Jiggy 2.0. The initiative aims to address presbyopia at scale, and in one year, close to 1.5 million people have been screened and over 1 million people have received free glasses in 16 states of the federation, with approximately 66% of the beneficiaries receiving their first ever pair of glasses. This initiative is being expanded under the Renew Hope Health Connect to deliver at least 5 million free pairs of spectacles and 25,000 free cataract surgeries by the end of 2027. Thank you. As part of the Jiggy Bowler 2.0, zero, we're integrating primary eye care into our primary healthcare system as a strategic system strengthening mechanism to ensure equity and sustainable access in underserved communities. So far, about 2,200 primary healthcare workers have been trained to deliver primary eye care in our PHCs. Excellencies, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, investors, when we invest in vision, we create a brighter future for individuals, for communities, for our nation, and for the world. We not only prevent blindness and enhance human dignity, we create a mechanism for the identification of wider health problems that burden society. Let us therefore work together to increase investment in eye care in order to develop sustainable eye care systems, promote research and development, and increase access to quality eye care services. Thank you very much, Aqua Consult, and all the participants, all the investors, all partners for putting this together. I look forward to our collective efforts in making a meaningful impact, and so with peace and plenty, Nigeria shall be blessed. Thank you very much.

Thank you, honorable minister. I'll now call on the honorable, the, the honorable minister for health and agriculture to give his keynote address. Honorable Minister Salako, excellencies, distinguished heads of state and government, ministers of finance and health, investors, partners, and all those gathered here today. Ladies and gentlemen, I must admit first that I am replacing one of our great leaders who is actually a real medical doctor. I just so happen to luckily have a degree in biology and some crafty political skills, so I think I'll be okay today. But in a show of unity under the theme "One Voice, One Vision," I will say I am honored to deliver these remarks on behalf of the honorable Dr. Terrance Drew, the prime minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, who sends his warmest greetings. By the way, I'm a minister for Montserrat. So that should show you how unified we are in the Caribbean. Prime Minister Drew has asked me to convey the following: For St. Kitts and Nevis, a small island federation, and I will also add here, the Caribbean, the health and productivity of every single citizen is paramount. Our economies, our workforce, our future, they all begin with healthy, capable people. Without good vision, this goal cannot be achieved. At home, we are working to close that gap. Eye health is delivered through our hospitals, our community clinics, and the Nevis Eye Care Program. Montserrat has also launched its eye care program where we're doing free testing to ensure that our citizens get proper eye care and also eyewear. Through these partnerships with visiting specialists, regional initiatives, and telemedicine, we are expanding access despite the realities of small island life. But this is an investment summit, and the case for investing in eye health is one of the most compelling available to any government in this room. We are not talking about long-horizon development spending with uncertain returns. We are talking about interventions that are proven, affordable, and that deliver measurable results within three years. Simple community screenings, reading glasses provided on the spot, expanding surgical capacity. These are not complex programs. They are high-impact actions that governments can commission, deliver, show results on within a single parliamentary term. The numbers are striking. Every dollar a government invests in eye health returns 28. That means workers returning to full productivity, children learning more effectively in school, fewer people dependent on caregivers or social support systems. These are returns that show up in GDP, tax revenue, in workforce participation quickly and measurably. For small island economies like ours, every person living with preventable blindness is a person not fully contributing to our workforce, our businesses, or our future. We cannot afford to leave that potential untapped, and we do not have to. This is why Prime Minister Drew is proud to share that the Organization of the Eastern Caribbean States has launched the region's first coordinated eye health plan, bringing together member states, the OECS's pooling resources, developing shared centers of excellence, and building a system that no single island could sustain alone. This is exactly the kind of Afro-Caribbean collaboration that the AACIS exists to catalyze, and it is a model that can reach far beyond the Eastern Caribbean. On behalf of Prime Minister Drew, St. Kitts and Nevis, and the Caribbean, calls on every government and partner in this room: Eye health for what it is, a smart, fast-return investment in human development. Let us leave Abuja today committed to supporting the global summit for eye health's ambition in November with plans, with financing, and with the political will to make vision for everyone a reality. I thank you.

Thank you, honorable minister from Montserrat. I'll now call on the regional chair of Africa, Professor Fatima Kyari, to address us.

Good afternoon. Um, distinguished excellencies, honorable minister of state, sir, I, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I am requesting to stand on existing protocol as the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness, IAPB, regional chair for Africa. I feel honored to have such a distinguished panel to talk about the value of vision. I'm here just to tell you about the experiences I have gathered working in Nigeria, watching eye health grow, and being an advocate, first as the regional West Africa chair, and then now as Africa chair. Over the years, my role has been to enhance partnerships and synergy in how we work in eye health, and also to unlock the potential of people through prevention of vision loss and blindness. When I started as the West African chair, I understood that I had to expand beyond the shores of Nigeria. But the experiences and the incredible progress Nigeria has shown in eye health has been very instructive, and we are here to share with you all the milestones we have reached. About two, three, two and a half years ago, in 2023, September to be precise, we had a special guest from the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness partnerships, which is Peak, who extended the advocacy to Mr. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the honorable president of Nigeria, His Excellency. And from there, it was an astronomical rise because the political will was excellent, and he testified that whoever that needs eye health intervention should get it. And we also had the great support of the executing ministry, which is the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, with the leadership of Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, and earlier Dr. Osagie Ehanire, and now excellently with Dr. Salako, who are the executors of this political will. And that is where partnerships are very important. And I here I have Dr. Orji Okolo, who leads the national eye health program, and now because of her remarkable achievements, it's been added together with the ear and sensory, um, function, sensory, function, function, sensory functions, eye, ear, and sensory functions. And that has also shown the extreme remarkable advancement of eye. Now we have addressed the people's side of it, but we need to scale up, and the scale-up needs us to address the most important cause of vision loss, which is cataract. And the cataract, we have so many things that need to be addressed by investments: intraocular lenses, microscopes, operating microscopes, and surgical instruments, and then the glasses. These are all things that need to be invested on. And I'd like to say the bottom line of investment in this case is not just about money back in your pocket, but also the money that is returned in the economy, in the economy. And you'd hear from the panel, I would like to disclose, but you'd hear from the panel how much $1 investment returns in the economy. And so with this, um, including the partners here, we have Sight Savers, for whom I have been a foot soldier for a long time when I was growing in my profession, and CBM, who are also excellent. A few months ago, we sat in the hall with a huge investment by CBM to support eye health in Nigeria. When we look at the partnerships we have with Africa and the Caribbean, and then we think about the learnings that we both have and the similarities of our epidemiologic backgrounds, and also challenges in our health, and most of whom we share the same challenges like high, um, vision loss, poor investments in eye health, and health worker migration. So those are the things that the panel will be discussing, and we'll see how we can support each other in this growth. Once again, thank you very much, and, um, Ada, thanks for being the moderator.

Thank you, Professor Kyari. Um, the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness has been crucial in advocating, advancing global advocacy for sustainable eye care. And so on this panel, we have two people from IAPB. Let me introduce Mr. Drew Keys. He's the director of regional engagement, and he's going to announce the engagement and future marriage between sustainable eye health and strategic investment as he introduces us to the value of vision: investing in eye health for global impact. Please make welcome Mr. Drew Keys.

Honorable ministers, distinguished guests, my fellow panelists, it's an absolute honor to be here to address you this afternoon. At two weeks ago, I was presenting in São Paulo in Brazil, and the organizers of the conference suggested that I needed a translator, not from English to Portuguese, but from Australian to English. And so I apologize in advance if you, uh, if you struggle with my Australian accent, but hopefully, it will not be too challenging. Um, I'm just going to see if the slides are working. If not, we can do it without the slides. But what I, uh, what I wanted to highlight for you this afternoon was the importance of the value of vision, of course, but also to remind you of the two takeaways that we have already heard in this panel and also in our earlier panels this afternoon. The first one is the importance of an investment case, and the second piece that Dr. Ada mentioned is that this year, hosted by Antigua and Barbuda, will be held the first global summit for eye health. Not a sectoral summit, but a political-level summit to underpin this summit. This political-level engagement, engagement of heads of state, health and finance ministers. It was necessary to create an investment case, and we've heard about the importance of that. This investment case was launched last year in September at the United Nations General Assembly in the presence of countries such as Nigeria and St. Kitts and Nevis, and it highlighted these numbers that we see here in the presentation. There are almost a billion people in low and middle-income countries who are living with avoidable sight loss. If we could eliminate that avoidable sight loss in those low and middle-income countries, there would be a $447 million, $447 billion boost to the global economy every single year. But what does that require? That requires a $7.1 billion investment over the next five years. And for that investment, there will be an almost $200 billion economic return. That, as we heard in the honorable prime minister from St. Kitts and Nevis's remarks, is a one in $28 return. It's one of the highest returns of investment in all of global health. If we take that for a moment to a domestic level, if we think about Nigeria, what does that mean for Nigeria? That means that if in Nigeria $110 million was invested in eye health over the next 5 years, there would be a $2.5 billion return. It's not quite 1.28 because this is a global figure, but we also have the modeling for more than 110 countries globally for this figure. But there are other benefits as well. What does this investment mean? It means 3.3 million years of schooling gained. It means 5,800 traffic deaths averted. It means 80,000 life years gained. This is for an investment over the next 5 years. This is not solving the problem of sight globally forever. This is about an activity that takes place over the next 5 years. And to do this, there are six accelerators, and they've been touched on by, uh, by some of my panelist colleagues this afternoon. The six accelerators are early detection through screening in the community, giving out reading glasses on the spot, increasing workforce capacity for eye exams and dispensing glasses, boosting surgical productivity and teams, removing barriers to access, and making the quality of cataract surgery even better. So these are the accelerators. This is the to-do list. But why is this value of vision investment case so impressive? Now, I have to confess that I am not a health economist, and I am also not a clinician, and so from my perspective as an advocate for eye health, it's this last point that's really, really exciting. And we heard some of it touched on by the, uh, the address from the honorable prime minister of St. Kitts and Nevis. These interventions are cheap, and the productivity gains are immediate. And we're not just talking here about the investments that are necessary from governments. This is a whole-of-society approach. So if you're a business leader in the room, think about the economic boost to your businesses of ensuring that your workforce has their eyes tested once a year and that they get the access to spectacles that they need. Secondly, we have the six accelerators. We have the pathways for action. This is unique amongst investment cases. It tells us what to do to deliver the gains. And most importantly, and my favorite point is that these results can be delivered within an election cycle. So the takeaway for politicians in the room: if you invest in eye health, you will get reelected in three years' time. Finally, I would like to thank our colleagues from the eye health sector who are here. This was an enormous investment case. The data came in from more than 50 countries globally from more than 50 low and middle-income

countries. All of the eye health organizations that you have heard listed this afternoon were part of this in some way. The final report writing was conducted by the IAPB Sabre Foundation and the Fred Hollows Foundation. But it was a collective and global effort and that's the final takeaway that together whether we are talking about uh West Africa and the Caribbean or whether we are talking globally this is an issue that we can tackle together. Thank you.

So, thank you very much, Mr. Drew Keys. That was a fantastic takeaway. So, the politicians in the room, in three years, invest in eye care and be reelected. So, now we're going to call on one of the foremost health economists in Africa, Dr. Gladis Rono. She's come all the way from Kenya. and she's going to talk about financing and value chain and investment pathways for Ialth. You have the floor.

>> Thank you. Uh honorable ministers, distinguished guests, my fellow panelists, good afternoon. It is a pleasure to be here today to talk about why and how can we invest in I health. As we've heard I health is not only a health issue it is also a human investment. And the reason why you are saying so is because when we are investing in I health as you've we've heard you're more productive which means that you're able within a very short time produce more as an investor as a business person. When your cost of production reduces, it means increase in profitability. With increase in profitability, you might even reduce the prices of your products. With a reduction in the prices of your products, it means that increase in demand for the goods that you're selling. With increase in demand, it means that more people are purchasing. you might expand your business. It is important for us all to think about how and where can we come in to support in the provision of Ialth services because directly and indirectly all of us are going to be affected because if employment levels in the country are very low it means there's low purchasing power. It means that you will not grow as a business. So even if whatever you're producing is not directly linked to eye health, you will be indirectly affected especially if the economy is not expanding. If the economy has stagnated yet we've seen in many countries that I health is really not prioritized but I'm happy because we are currently discussing about our health. We are starting to pay attention to the importance the value of I health and when it is not prioritized it is never supported it is never funded and therefore it is important to know that when we are investing in vision we're investing in economic growth when the economy is growing it means there's increase in the production of goods and services which you normally talk about GDP when GDP is growing It means that the government will also be in a position to allocate some resources to eye health. We know that there's always competing priorities. There are competing priorities and when ranking is done uh there's a possibility that I health will not be maybe top five or even top 10. But when the economy is growing, the when the economy is expanding because people are more productive, we are opening up more employment opportunities, then the government will now be in a position to generate more money and allocate some money to to Ialth.

So as investors, how, where, when can we come in? And the answer is the time is now. As you've heard in our earlier presentations, there is need for investment in our health and the need is in the two continents Afrey Caribbean. The 90% of the cases come from these two regions there is need and for investors we come in to provide a solution to the need. And where can we come in? We can come in through service delivery. And the good news is that the treatment models are actually very cost effective. We can support you know small investments in screening equipments in essential consumables especially at the point of entry the primary level it's very cost effective and very efficient in terms of the outcome. Additionally we can come in through the supply chain glasses we all know they're very expensive. Do we have local manufacturers? Are glasses locally manufactured? There's an opportunity for us to think about locally producing affordable glasses in addition to other essential consumables. Our equipments are very expensive and farms within that space are very few and they are controlling the market. Can we think of how can be innovative to be able to now start investing in um our equipment? Can we come up with scalable treatment models? Let's think about it as investors. There is an opportunity for that. We talk about untapped potential. When we talk about bankable opportunities within I health opportunities are enormous. What about human resources for our health? They are very few. So what can we do about it? The training institutions, our universities, how can we increase capacity? How can we um sort um how can we reach out to investors to provide maybe scholarship opportunities and also development partners for us to increase the number of Ialth workers? Additionally, after we've trained them, how do we ensure that we are we we are we are retaining them? Because we've seen after training they go to greener pastures. How do we ensure that they are compensated well so that they contribute to our economies for the private public partnerships? How can we enhance it? The private sector, the public sector in terms of service delivery expansion. The private sector can come in because whatever the public is doing is not enough. Not because they don't want to support eye health their competing priorities. So we are requesting the private sector to come in and support in the service delivery financing innovations because when it comes to financing I health we have many sources of eye health financing number one is the government but it is never enough number two we have the donors and we've seen within the icepace um support to the vulnerable comes majorly from from the donors and we also have insurance companies but not everyone is a member of any insurance company especially the vulnerable. So how can we ensure that each and every eye health need is actually managed by making it affordable and paying for those who cannot who cannot really afford. So we are calling governments to allocate some resources. We are calling the development partners as we are supporting respective countries can we strengthen the system so that with or without our support the governments will be able to continue sustainably providing our health services. In the morning we heard about co- financing. How can we engage government so that when we are bringing a million uh USD the government is also putting in some little resources it can be 5 million we can do much when we build the system so that it is able to sustainably provide Ialth services for the private sector. Can we engage in scalable sustainable models? As I've said, opportunities are enormous. What we need to do is just open our eyes to the available opportunities. Lastly, the value of vision is not only restoring sight. We unlock potential. we unlock productivity and prosperity. Thank you.

>> Thank you very much um Dr. Rono. So we've heard a lot about eye health and the value of vision and the importance of investing and the return on investment in eye care. So, we're going to ask some hard-hitting questions to our distinguished panelists. For almost as long as we have known, I care has been funded by donors. I care seems to be a beggarly discipline. We go cap in hand begging people to fund I care. But now, an investment case has been made. So, I'm going to ask start with the honorable minister of state for help. What is the most immediate step Nigeria can take to strengthen access to I care within the existing um health system to signal to investors that we are open for business?

>> Thank you very much uh madame moderator. Um first let me say that uh one of the important vision of President Bola for Nigeria is to create a 1 trillion USD economy and from what has been said today from all the investment case that have been made it is clear that if Nigerians eye health is not secured the road to achieving that aspiration will be difficult. So we must in recognition of that invest in high health. Earlier on when we were speaking about cancer um Dr. Shinkafi Dr. Baguru spoke about the need for ring fencing and I marking resources for specific public health issues. One of them of course is how to improve the high health of Nigerians. At the moment we have a basic healthcare provision fund which is some form of ring fencing. By law that basic health care provision fund must be funded by at least 1% of the consolidated revenue which is made available and you see that a high proportion of that fund is deployed for primary healthcare. So the med thing that I believe which we have started but we need now to improve on and expand it is integrating I health better into primary health care system such that the basic healthcare provision fund that is available can also significantly help us to move high health forward. Of course, there's an advocacy which I also like to invite members of the audience to join us in for an increase in the amount the proportion of consolidated revenue that is available for basic healthcare provision fund. That is one major step. The other step is we also need to involve our subnationals better at the moment. Yes, we have IEL desk at the subnational level. We need to push before beyond the desk for subnationals to also have high health programs that can also have budget lines in their budget and that can fund specific areas of eye health, particularly in the area of school health and screening school children to detect very early those who have suboptimal vision and providing remedies for those ones. The other part is to also create additional opportunities for people to be able to get eye screening first by training technicians, pharmacy technicians for example um uh uh vendors who provide uh uh we call them um those who buy who sell drugs. Um that's uh what are they called now? We need to train those level of people within the scope of our tax shifting u policy. Those are immediate steps I believe that we can take to mobilize more resources to improve the level of human capacity that is available and to also put our health at the front burner of the universal health coverage agenda of Nigeria. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much honorable minister of state. That is fantastic. You're speaking our language of investment for what you've said. There's the current president, his excellency president Bola Tinubu is developing a $1 trillion economy and there's no $1 trillion economy without eye health. You've also talked about ring fencing funds for eye care through the primary um basic health care provision fund. So that is fantastic and the most exciting is the subnational eye health budget lines because because for so long there's been limited political priority for eye health. So there have been no budget lines but hearing that we're going to develop subnational eye health budget lines is a signal by government that there's political priority for I care and that is a massive investment. So we thank you for that for that commitment. And now honorable minister for a for Monserat I would like to ask is there a collective uh vision or plan to invest in eye health across the Caribbean especially leading up to the global summit that will be held in Antigua in November this year.

>> So I'll be I'll be Can you hear me? Okay. I'll be very honest and say that I wasn't really quite prepared for this panel since I found out I was going to sit on it five minutes before. But um I'll give you from a Monraat context. In Monsat, what we've actually been doing is using our non-government organizations to fund eye health. Uh the reason for that is yes our budget is small but our NOS's have seen eye health as a pivotal health care issue mainly because persons who suffer from blindness often require more care than some of the other um diseases that we see. Obviously reason for that is the disability not being able to see affects your mobility affects how you take care of yourself. So what we've done is engage them and work with them and facilitate the NOS's to actually help on that front. So in my speech you would have heard that we're doing clinical tests. The Roacher Club of Monzerat were the ones who actually arranged that for us. But if I may, I would say as a minister of agriculture and this is one of the times that I'm actually happy that I sit and listen to our minister of health quite a lot. I'm actually glad I'm sitting next to your minister of health >> because I don't think that people realize that the two ministries overlap quite a lot and when I say overlap I mean in terms of prevention and in terms of cure. So it's obvious that um the ministry of health uh is responsible for cure and preventative mechanisms like early screening and early detection but a lot of people don't think about the agricultural side of it. For instance, we've seen a rise in NCDs as we've seen a rise in the use of processed foods. But the Caribbean and a and Africa should be growing the most um nutritious foods for our people. Again, we've seen a rise in NCDs like obesity, sorry, not obesity, but NCDs in like diabetes, hypertension, something that affects both regions quite a lot and seems to be more prevalent in black people, if I may say. This is directly linked to our diets. In the Caribbean, we have a diet that's high in starch. I'm almost sure that it's the same in Africa. you kind of start to see the link in why diabetes may be high. And then when you're talking about prevention, we should be growing foods like carrot, like the beta carotene and carrot. And yes, I'm using my biology degree that's used to pre to prevent um eye degenerative diseases and prevent things like night blindness. We should be growing nutritious foods and green vegetables for their minerals and vitamins. And these things also help with eye care. And I think one thing that every government here would agree on, if we can keep the people healthier, then it has a very good impact on our health budget because the a healthier nation of people means that there's less liability on the health budget. So, we're able to actually save some money and probably put that money into other industries if we use agriculture and if agriculture and health overlap going forward. Thank you.

>> Oh, thank you very much for that. um beautiful correlation between um agriculture and eye health and yes what you said about carrots and carotene and vitamin A preventing blindness so thank you for that um you also said that um a lot of eye care in your country is done by um NOS's and the whole essence of this uh summit is to see how you know governments can take responsibility by making an investment case But nevertheless, there's still a very very important role of the NOS's and of partners in strengthening eye health. So my next question will go to professor Fatima Makiari who has done a lot of work with partnerships. Can you explain to us the role of partnerships in strengthening the investment case for iare?

>> Uh thank you very much. Uh so the international agency for prevention of blindness is actually an overarching agency that has a lot of partners and a lot of partners on eye health are members of the IAPB. So the in the investment case um to start with the value of vision itself was put together by partners Drew mentioned earlier and when we sit at the APB meetings and board meetings where all partners are present we prioritize and in that prioritization partners decide on areas of investment that they would take upon. on there are very few key areas that we always talk about. First of all the most important causes of blindness which is catact and with catact it takes about 50% of blindness and vision impairment and there are several areas that require investment in catact especially the consumables that is the input and then when we think about the output when we restore vision in one older person elderly person, we have released the potential of that person's carers. Sometimes it might be a child who has been prevented from going to school because they're caring for their elderly parent or grandparent. Now, this child can go back to school. And then sometimes it's a working productive man who has lost his earning potential because of loss of vision but now the vision has been restored and then he can now go back to work and earn for his family so that not only him thrives but also his family thrives. So that is when we talk about the two bottom lines. The first bottom line of course is the business return in products that you have invested in medication intraocular lenses and surgical equipment and consumables. And then the second investment bottom line is the power it has on the economy and the return of dignified work and schooling of children. So these are the things that partners talk about and we always try to synergize between um our discussions and instead of focusing on the same thing partners spread themselves across the different areas that require investments. Thank you.

>> Thank you very much professor Kerry for that answer. Okay. So everyone is talking about the same thing. Investment, investment, investment. And um Mr. Drew, you made a compelling case for investing in um I health. Okay. You said there's a very high return on investment. For every $1, we get $28 return on investment. But I know there will be very many steps between the $1 investment and getting the return of on investment. So how can we derisk this investment to make it attractive for investors?

>> Thank you Ador. It's a it's a fantastic question and I think the the very first thing we need to do is ensure that there is political will. it we we are here in Nigeria uh in a country which takes global leadership around eye health seriously and in fact uh for those of you who are here representing Caribbean nations it's also a sub region which takes eye health seriously my my country Australia is also an exporter of eye health but we are in the minority in the majority of countries there is little political will because there is little knowledge around the seriousness of this public health question. So if the if our political leaders are not taking the issue seriously then it is not going to be seen as a serious issue in which people can invest. We we have to ensure that uh that Ialth as a priority is there as part of the global conversation so that people will have confidence uh to invest. We also need to be clear that this is not just about governments investing. It's not just about philanthropy investing. It's about a whole of society response to the issue. Otherwise, again, it will be seen as something that is not sustainable. And of course, when there is no sustainability, also there is greater risk.

>> Thank you very much for that um Mr. Drew. So, we need the political will and then investment will follow. Okay. Now, Dr. Rono, you talked you mentioned locally manufactured consumables in Africa. How realistic is this in Africa and in the Caribbean? Because we import most of our consumables. Do we have models um in Africa that we can copy and scale?

>> Uh thank you very much. It's a bit complicated, but we've seen countries locally manufacture some drugs, including my own country where I come from, we've we've seen other drugs being manufactured. So if we can present and demonstrate a business opportunity that we have a need there's a problem is there a possibility of any investor willing to put in some money including coming up with innovative models to be able to cheaply locally produce the same good because I believe that whatever is locally produce in the long run will be will be cheaper. As at now whatever we are importing might be cheaper. But if we can be innovative and develop cheaper treatment models because there's need eventually will come down. It is doable. Thank you.

>> Thank you very much. So you're saying it's doable. it's possible for us to have uh companies or industries that manufacture consumables in Africa that we can take to scale. So the day is far gone. There are so many other questions that I would like to ask but because um for want of time I'll just ask one question that each panelist will give a one sentence response. We know that the global summit for IARE is coming up in November in 2026 and it's going to be an investment summit in Ialth. So what is the one takeaway? What is the one commitment we can make to I care before the global summit? I'll start with our honorable minister.

>> All right. Thank you. I think for me government should be at the driver's seat creating the enabling environment, the right policies and the right funding mechanism that will encourage the private sector and non-governmental organizations s to also increase their commitment to high health. That will be my takeaway. Thank you.

>> Thank you, honorable minister. The honorable minister for agriculture, any commitment to the best of your capacity because we know you're minister of agriculture.

>> Oh, well, let's look at it this way. Any investment is going to need data. and the investor is going to want to know the data from your country. So I think as a commitment every government here could at least commit to the screening because the screening will give you the necessary data that they need to know if it's investable, if it's bankable. So I think all of us here the government of Met has already committed to doing those screenings and I think everybody else could do the same and I think that would be my takeaway.

>> Oh thank you very much professor Kiari any commitment? Well, in this my role um mine is advocacy. So I will be driving a lot of advocacy drives to heads of government to commit and to understand the investment of ini health and the value of vision. Thank you.

>> Thank you very much professary and Mr. Drew. one commitment before the global summit.

>> The the commitment all of us can make all of us in this room can make is to think of eye health not just as a health issue but to think of the value of vision as a whole of societal economic issue.

>> Thank you for that. A whole of society economic issue. Dr. Renault.

>> Thank you very much. commitment investing in high health leads to both the economy growing and equitability in the society. Thank you.

>> Okay. Thank you very much for uh um for everything that has been contributed today. I want to thank our distinguished panelists for a rich and insightful discussion. So what we have heard today is clear eye health is not a peripheral issue. It is a whole of society um issue and it is because it's central to how people learn, how they work, how they go about their um daily activities and we've heard commitments from our ministers. We've heard commitments from this distinguished panel and we really appreciate the value of vision. So going forward towards the global summit we are excited that such political commitments have been made and if we can keep up the momentum then we can we assured that we will get value for our investment for every dollar we'll get 28 billion $28 in added investment and with that I want to encourage all our investors to see the value of vision in eye health services that we plan to take to scale. And on that note, I want to say thank you very much to all of you for being here and especially our distinguished uh panelists. Really appreciate the value of your time and we hope you really appreciate the value of vision. Thank you very much everyone. Thank you sir. Yes.

>> Please give them yet another round of applause as they make their way for a photo shoot. Please So, can we take this picture together again? Feel free to smile. It's free of charge at a AACIS 2026. Please give them yet another round of applause. I just appreciate the moderator, Professor Dagaji and the panelist. Thank you so much. All right, pictures are still being taken by the Honorable Minister of State for Health. um alongside other members of the panel and the moderator, distinguished guest, ladies and gentlemen, this is still the Afrey Caribbean Investment Summit and we just finished listening to a panel session that talked about the value of vision. Um and that conversation was very rich. One of the strongest points that was made or that were that was made by several speakers at this during this panel session was the call for investments. And in fact, we heard we heard uh Mr. Drew Keys tell us that if you invest in Ialth, you're going to be reelected in three years. I I think I need to try that for my political career. All right. Thank you very much all of you. Okay, they are still exchanging pleasantries um right there as we try to move further in this event. We have three more sessions. Three more sessions around eye health. We have three more sessions but um okay I observe it's like the the honorable minister for state for health is uh trying to take his leave. We appreciate you sir. We thank you. Um while he's leaving, I just want to see if I could recognize one or two people who stepped into the hall. Uh while that session was going on, I think I'd like to recognize a consultant of themologist formerly in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Yagana Imam. Dr. Yagana Imam, please a round of applause for him. Where are you, sir? Dr. Yagana. Okay. Right. looking for him because those are all uh partners that we need to meet um right here before we end this event. Okay, I as I mentioned we have three more items on the agenda before we bring this to a close. One of the items that we had on this agenda was to receive a speech um a keynote address I beg your pardon from the honorable coordinating minister of health and social welfare for the federal republic of Nigeria. I'm talking about professor Muhammad Ali Partate and he has sent a representative and I would like to invite his representative up here to deliver that speech and then we'll take the the other two last two elements for this for this session. I'd like to welcome um this federal permanent secretary representing the honorable coordinating minister Dr. Camil Shore. Please give him a round of applause as he comes up. I know we can do better. Please clap.

>> Okay. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I'm here to deliver the keynote address on behalf of the coordinating minister of health and social welfare, Professor Muhammad Alipati, and to apologize because he was meant to be here around 11:30, but for a slight change in time, he had to go for another equally important meeting. Distinguished co-chairs, my honorable minister of state for health who just left now, honorable minister Philip Tlesford, esteemed ministers from the African Union and Cariccom, distinguished investors, development partners, ladies and gentlemen, it is an honor to address this inaugural AfroCaribbean Health Summit conveyed under the team, one voice, one vision. Advancing Afre Caribbean unity, leveraging innovative health technologies for people centered health resilience. We meet at a crit at a time when Africa and a Caribbean face common pressures from pandemics and non-communicable diseases to supply chain shocks but also share a historic opportunity to mobilize private capital to build stronger more resilient health system. from challenges to a shared reform vision. For many years, Nigeria's health system has faced deep structural weaknesses that limited our ability to improve health outcomes at scale. Health financing has been inadequate, inefficient, and inequitable. Countries that spend a smaller share of GDP on health sometimes achieve better results and the communities with the greatest needs are often the least served. Governance has been undermined by fragmentation and poor coordination across federal, state and local levels. multiple regulators and numerous unaligned projects and programs. Our data systems remain incomplete and of variable quality. And even when data is available, it is not consistently used to inform policy and resource allocation. External assistance has also been fragmented with financing and technical support spread across many initiatives that are not always aligned with national priorities. In confronting these realities, it became clear that incremental project bypro interventions were insufficient. A strategic reset of the health sector was required to address root causes, align all actors and share impact at scale. The strategic blueprint Nigeria health sector renewal investment initiative and the sectorwide approach compact. In response to this, we developed a health sector strategy blueprint with a simple but ambitious purpose to save lives, reduce both physical and financial pain and produce health for all Nigerians. Our pathway to universal health coverage is this. The blueprint res rests on four mutually reinforcing pillars. One, strengthening governance to make it more effective. Fully implementing the National Health Act, enhancing accountability to citizens, defragmenting the sector and improving regulatory oversight so that the roles are clearer and performance is tracked. The second pillar, improving population health outcomes through an efficient, equitable, quality health system. Revitalizing primary healthcare so that every word has at least one functional primary healthcare center, expanding financial protection and embedding quality and safety at all levels of care. The third pillar, unlocking the healthcare value chain. Recognizing health as both a social good and a driver of growth and deliberately using investments, innovation and industrial policy to create jobs and resilience. And the last pillar is to strengthen health security and resilience, reinforcing our capacity to prevent, detect and respond and respond to outbreaks and to address the growing health impacts of climate change. Th this strategic blueprint informed the design of the Nigerian health sector renewal investment initiative which is the investment and implementation vehicle that turns vision into financed tracked action to anchor this strategic re renewal investment initiative in real accountability. We concluded a sectorwide We conduct concluded a sectorwide approach compact between the federal government, the 36 states of the federation, the FCT, the local government areas, development partners, civil society organizations, and our traditional rulers. Through this compact, we agree to align our financing and technical support behind the blueprints four pillars. Reduce duplication and focus on measurable results in governance, service delivery, value chain development and health security. In essence, it is our collective contract to move from fragmentation to defragmentation and coherence. The strategic health develop uh renewal investment initiative is already reshaping our system. It commits us to revitalizing primary healthcare, improving health security, reducing out ofpocket spending and expanding access to quality services especially for women, children and vulnerable population. It aims to ensure that at least one fully functional primary healthcare center in every political world supported by investments in health workers, digital tools and sustainable financing including insurance expansion. This agenda has attracted significant commitments from development partners and financiers signaling strong confidence in Nigeria's reform direction. the role of private sector, the PAVAC as a flagship. With this foundation in place, challenges understood, blueprints re defined, the investment initiative and the sectorwide approach compact established. The next question is how to finance and implement at scale especially in a context of rising prices for food, medicine, transport and basic needs. Public budgets are constraint and we are determined not to raise revenues in ways that further burden Nigerian citizens. This is where private capital becomes central not peripheral to our strategy. The presidential initiative to unlock the healthcare value chain with the acronym PAC is a flagship under the third pillar of our blueprint and a core component of the health sector renewal investment initiative. PAVAC mandate is to make Nigeria a self-reliant health man health manufacturing and innovation hub. Reducing import dependence and turning health spending into an engine of industrial growth and jobs. It focuses on five critical value. It focuses on five critical value chains. Pharmaceuticals, vaccines, medical devices, diagnostics and consumables alongside workforce and research and development. Through the executive order and policy reforms, we are streamlining regulation, facilitating access to land and infrastructure, and working with fiscal authorities on tax and tariff incentives for priority investments. PAVAC aims to one increase domestic manufacturing of health products and technologies including generics, vaccines, diagnostics, medical equipment and consumables. Increase the quantity and quality of jobs in the value chain through foreign direct investment and local capital mobilization and reduce outbound medical tourism by enhancing the quality and complexity of health services available in Nigeria. We also recognize the rising cost of care both services and medicine. In the short term under PAC, we are pool procuring essential medicines to ensure quality availability and affordability in public facilities. Protecting households from price spikes. In the medium and long term, we are deliberately building local manufacturing capacity so that prices fall and supply becomes more secure directly advancing universal health coverage by easing the financial burden on families. For investors, the Nigerian Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative through PIVAC provides what has long been missing, a clear national direction, a coordinated public sector counterpart and a pipeline of viable projects aligned with a formal compact between federal, state and development partners. This is the enabling environment in which private capital can be both profitable and transformational. Let me highlight in particular where private capital, African Caribbean and global can partner with Nigeria in pharmaceuticals and related manufacturing. First priority product segments. Nigeria still imports a large share of its essential medicine. Yet our ambition is to reverse this so that the majority of medicines are produced locally over the coming years. Under PAC, we are prioritizing essential medicine including antibiotics, anti-hypertensives, maternal and child health products and non-communicable disease medicines where demand is large, predictable and still growing. reproductive and women's health products where we are already working with global companies such as Bayer and local partners such as ChromeDicks Pharmaceuticals to localize production of key commodities, vaccines and biologics supported by training and technology transfers initiatives to gradually build local vaccine manufacturing capacity. These are the product spaces where capable Caribbean manufacturers and investors can enter joint ventures with Nigerian firms, bringing technology and capital while accessing Nigeria's 230 million strong market and the wider Echoas region. Second, Greenfield and brownfield manufacturing. Pivak is actively facilitating Greenfield plants for finished dose manufacturing with a clear line of sights to public and private demand under the air sector renewal investment initiative and national insurance expansion. Brownfield expansion and upgrading of existing plants to meet World Health Organization and African Medicine Agency standards, opening doors to pulled procurement and exports, contract manufacturing and field finish arrangements for multinational companies that want to localize parts of their value chain in Nigeria. Caribbean investors can participate as equity holders, technology providers or long-term offtakers for products suitable for both African and Caribbean markets. Third, technology transfer and R&D platforms. PAC is providing is building bridges between industry and knowledge institutions by brokering technology transfer arrangements that connect global innovators with Nigerian manufacturers and research institutes and by supporting applied R&D and centers of excellence within teaching hospitals and universities. AfroCaribbean consortia can co-invest in such platforms sharing intellectual property, clinical research and regulatory pathways that benefit both regions, workforce and academic investments. No manufacturing ecosystem can thrive without skilled people. In partnership with organizations such as Empower Swiss, PAC has launched a farmer and vaccine manufacturing academy to train thousands of professionals for GMP compliant production and create thousands of new highquality jobs across engineering, quality assurance, regulatory affairs and operations. Private capital can participate directly in these academies and training oratories, warehousing, warehousing and code chain logistics to ensure reliable distribution nationwide and across borders. there. These are ideal spaces for infrastructure, infrastructure funds, logistic companies and impact investors, including those from the Caribbean to provide capital and expertise. Finally, the risking and blended finance. PAVAC is deliberately using blended finance to crowd to crowd in private investment. We are working with the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, development finance institutions and export credit agencies on dedicated health industrialization vehicles. And we are securing guarantees to support local manufacturers, reduce currency and credit risk, and improve access to long-term finance long-term finance. These structures are designed to make farmer projects in Nigeria not only impactful but commercially attractive and scalable. AfroCaribbean Health Partnership. Our partnership with the Caribbean is not starting from zero. Building on the success of previous AfroCaribbean investment summits including high level diplomatic exchanges memorandum of understanding and the historic non-stop charter flight between Abuja and St. Kits and Navies. We are now adding a dedicated health pillar through this summit. Health has been rightly identified as a critical priority for our transatlantic or our transatlantic relations as both regions confront similar challenges of access, equity and resilience under the Nigerian health sector renewal investment initiative. Nigeria is ready. Nigeria is ready to work with Caribbean governments, investors and companies to structure joint ventures in pharmaceuticals and vaccine manufacturing, including for reproductive and non-communicable disease products relevant to both regions. to co-develop training programs and exchange schemes for regulators, pharmacists, engineers, and health workers to build a shared talent base and to explore coordinated procurement framework and framework contracts that give scale and predictability to our free manufacturers. In essence, we seek to move from parallel efforts to shared value chains, linking Africa scale with Caribbean expertise and global markets. In closing, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, Nigeria's health reform agenda is about saving lives, reducing physical and financial pain, and producing health for all Nigerians. The renewal investment initiative is transforming service delivery and health security and through PAVAC is turning our health needs into a platform for industrialization, innovation and jobs. The missing ingredient is the level of private capital commensurate with the opportunity before us. To our partners from the Caribbean and beyond, we invite you to see Nigeria, not only as a market, but as a co-creation platform for the next generation of health industries that will serve Africa, the Caribbean, and the wider global south. Together we can build resilient value chains, ensure access to quality medicine and make AfroCaribbean solidarity visible in every clinic and community our people depend on. Thank you very much. This is delivered on behalf of Professor Muhammad Alipate, honorable coord coordinating minister of health and social welfare of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Thank you.

ALL RIGHT, ladies and gentlemen, that was the honorable coordinating minister of health and social welfare for the Federal Republic of Nigeria, represented today by a federal permanent secretary designate, Dr. Camille Sheret. Please give him a round of applause. Just encourage him, please. and they're taking a photo together. And as has become my custom here, feel free to smile. Distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, we're still at the AfroCaribbean Investment Summit and I told you that we have two more sessions. I want to assure you that they're going to be very short. In fact, I think we have cut it down to just one more session. I was about to ask us to stand up and stretch, but I'm scared. I'm scared that some of us have the escape velocity of Hussein Bolts that when you stand up, you're going to bolt out of this hall. So, I will move to the last item on the agenda for this session. Yes, I'll move to the last item on the agenda and then we will have we'll break to lunch. Okay. All right. So, just understand that the next presentation is what is standing in between you and I and our lunch right after now. All right. We want to take a stand alone address. It's going to be just for 10 minutes as we look at sickle cell the burden prevention measures and treatment options. And I would like to welcome um the chief medical officer of African medical center of excellence. The this um AMCE is a $300 million quetinary medical facility developed by a African bank in partnership with King's College Hospital London and it was commissioned in Abuja in June 2025 and already it is rewriting what is possible in African healthc care. This speaker began her medical career in 1995 as a house officer at the General Hospital on Lagos Island. A journey that returned some three decades later to the same city to connect with the health care stakeholders she had spent her life working alongside. She rose through the ranks at the National Hospital of Abuja, holding key management positions and ultimately serving as acting chief medical director, receiving board commendation for the efficiency and rigor of her leadership. She is a fellow of the national post-graduate medical college of Nigeria in radiology with more than 20 years of involvement in the training and examination of resident doctors. uh she holds a doctor of medicine in neuroraiology from the University of Zurich, a specialist, a specialization that reflects both the precision and the breadth of her clinical formation. Ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome to deliver this speech this afternoon, Dr. Aisha Umar, the chief medical officer, AMCE. Please give her a round of applause, please.

Thank you very much for the kind introduction and the invitation of the African Medical Center of Excellence to talk to you today about the silent crisis in subsaharan Africa. The cle cell crisis the burden. So we all know cle cell disease. If you have been in Nigeria, you may have a patient, a relation, a friend whose wedding you attended and who after some time you were told have a child, whose mother is always in hospital, whose child cannot attend school and some of whom may have lost the child before the age of five. Our role is to ensure we do something more than treatment, more than feeling sad in managing this crisis that can be controlled and is totally preventable. So cle cell disease is not merely a clinical condition. It's a systemic socioeconomic challenge when Nigeria remains the epicenter of the crisis. Approximately 150,000 babies are born with cle cell disease annually. In Nigeria alone, it's estimated that 2 to 3% of the total population lives with this disease while about 25% of the population are carriers of the cickle cell gene. The mortality morbidity and mortality is one in which without early intervention a significant percentage of the children with cle cell disease do not reach their fifth birthday. The burden manifest in chronic anemia, devastating vessel occlusive um crisis, some of which are eye complications, I've been told, organ damage, and a heightened risk of stroke. We know the burden of stroke for adults. So you can imagine a child who has stroke because they are ill. The rehabilitation if it's affecting the left side of the brain means that the child cannot write with their right hand and this affects schooling and other long-term burdens. The economic impact is one in which the caregiver burden is immense. Families break up. Some face catastrophic expenses because of repeated because of repeated hospitalizations and some of the complications that would occur. The patients if they survive do not also find it easy to join the workforce because of the repeated bone pains that they have. They miss work because they have to be admitted. They have to have repeated blood transfusions. Some of them react to it. And we're just trying to see how we can make sure that we prevent this rather than treat it at great cost to the healthc care infrastructure that is already overburdened with infectious diseases and others that can be prevented. There are certain um preventive measures that can be taken and that's why we chose this topic to talk about it today. One of them is genotype awareness. I have attended a few sessions in which young um graduates were addressed and then we normally ask them if they know what their genotype is. It is important that we embark on a massive public health awareness to ensure that everybody knows what their genotype is because we know that those who have the cle cell trait who are just 25% today can easily increase to 30 40 or 50% if we do not do a lot of genetic counseling for targeted uh couples at risk if both uh couples are as so that they would know about the 25 pro% probability of having children who have cickle cell disease. There's also an option for newborn screening and this would allow for immediate prophylactic treatment for these children if it's known on time. But now I'd like to talk about the treatment options for from management to eradication. So there are many ways of treating and managing it if it's discovered on time. One of them includes the use of hydroxyura to increase the fetal hemoglobin and this is supposed to reduce the uh crisis that the patients have. We could also do advanced pain treatment for um those who have crisis management. But let's talk about the curative frontier. In Nigeria, we have limited options in terms of stem cell treatment and um gene therapy. So a few years ago there were plans and stem cell treatment commenced in a private center and I know that at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital a few cases have been done as well. So the treatment options are either with bone marrow transplant or gene therapy and this is curative but expensive. So the African medical center of excellence the intervention is in providing a new era in treatment not just in hematology cardiovascular services but also oncology. So while the burden with the he with the while the burden is heavy the AMC has been established to serve a definitive solution to the infrastructural gap in African healthcare. We commenced service sometime in June last year just two months shy of um one year. We would be uh commencing management of bone marrow transplant in cle cell patients next month. AMC is not just a hospital. It's a quartinary level research and treatment powerhouse developed by the Afreexim Bank in partnership with the King's College Hospital London. Some of the our milestones in hematology are the implementation of automated red blood cell exchange. So we implemented this state-of-the-art program and we've seen great success in using this technology to support cle cell patients significantly reducing the incidence of strokes

And providing immediate relief for those in severe vasoclive crisis. We would like, I said, commence a bone marrow transplant program first with a patient with multiple myoma where we're going to do, um, autotologos, but would move on to allergenic in cle cell. Here we have a dedicated and welle equipped bone marrow transplant unit designed to perform high volume, successful transplants locally, eliminating the need for expensive and stressful medical tourism to Europe and India. It is also the West Africa, West Africa's largest stem cell lab. Our facilities feature a premier laboratory for precision diagnostics, monitoring, and advanced hematological research. AMC would also be pioneering gene B genebased interventions here in Abuja. And we have a comprehensive care model in which, beyond surgery, we have specialized in hematology clinics that focus on holistic management of cle cell complications, including cardiology, nephrology, and pain management.

So, in summary, the burden of cle cell disease has been, has defined Africa's health care for too long. Through the rigorous applications of preventive ed, prevention, education, and cutting edge creative capabilities, we're moving towards a future where cle cell warriors is a title of victory and not a description of a struggle. The cure is no longer overseas. It's right here in Abuja. Thank you very much.

Can we appreciate the chief medical officer AMCE, Dr. Aisha Omar? Thank you so much, ma'am, and congratulations to AMCE for all the great work you're doing, about to record your first year anniversary in Nigeria. Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, with the conclusion of that speech, it brings us to the end of the health session at AACIS 26. What did you hear? What are you going to do differently? What opportunities have been presented to you? There are several, several opportunities that have been presented to us here that we can benefit from, both in Africa and in the Caribbeans.

My charge to us all is to take action, critical action, immediately as we break to lunch. Start making contacts, start networking, start engaging. I'm going to be available for such engagements. If you want to see me elsewhere, you can find me on social media at HRH. That's the handle on Instagram. It has been an absolute delight and a great privilege for me to have been your host. Remember, I'm a doctor by day, MC by night, and I'm a superhero all day. My name is HRH. Thank you.

Let me welcome Avakaco MC here to take over. A, over to you. Thank you so much, Dr. G. Please say a round of applause for him. I think you did an exceptional job. It's been an allwoman team since we started, and it's lovely having you with us here today.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, better is the end of a thing than the beginning. We have finished our panel session. So, I'm not here to announce another panel session or another keynote address. Yes. So I don't get stoned. Um, we are still going to have a beautiful display of culture here today, and that's the way we'd want to close our session for today. Taking us further, we have the kitian actors, and as soon as that is done, we'll come here for brief announcements and would break for lunch. Kitician actors, the floor is yours.

Heat! Heat! Heat! Heat! Heat! Heat! Beautiful is played by the guitar actors. Ladies and gentlemen, WOW! WOW! HEAT!

Beautiful display of culture and flexibility as well. Ladies and gentlemen, the Kishian actors. Wow! VERY ENERGETIC PERFORMANCE from Sita Neas. Can you feel the rhythm OF THE DRUM?

OH, WE ARE GETTING OUR MINISTERS FROM OUR DOGGIES TO JOIN IN THE DANCE CREW. VERY SPECIAL EDITION HERE. Our minister is also a dancer. Ladies and gentlemen, that's the minister for creative economy, honorable Dawkins. IF YOU CAN PLEASE CLAP YOUR HANDS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. IT'S ALL PART OF THE PERFORMANCE.

He's going TO ATTEMPT TO GO OVER THE SHOVELS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. Will he make it? WE CAN ONLY WATCH AND SEE. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE'RE NOT CLAPPING. WOW!

BEAUTIFUL DISPLAY culture there from San Peter Neas. If you know that you cannot jump as high as they did, please give them a round of applause. I was observing, especially, our participants at that side trying to. It's like everyone was saying, "Can I hop? Can I not?" Please do not try this at home.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, it's been a very insightful day four of the 2026 Africa Caribbean Investment Summit. We've had panel sessions, insightful discussions, and very robust addresses. Right now, we're going to be breaking for lunch, and tomorrow promises to be even better with more discussions, better insights, and ways we can forge a sustainable future. Thank you for joining us today. My name is A, the host. A big thank you to Carla, my co-m, and of course, Dr. Yakubu for holding it down today. Thank you. Do have some lunch, and we'll see you tomorrow for day five of the Afaribbean Investment Summit. Thank you. Oh my god!