Multilingual Business for President Julius Maada Bio of West Africa

President Julius Maada Bio wants to break through the commerce barrier in West Africa.

Speaking in French, the region's newest head of state told business leaders in Abidjan that the French-English divide can be an obstacle to trade during a meeting of the Business General Confederation of Cote d’Ivoire on Friday.

Although the region's 360 million people speak more than 500 native languages,  the most dominant are left over from the colonial era.

Of 17 countries in West Africa, five use English officially, and in education, including Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

Sierra Leone's neighbors, Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire, make up about a dozen French-speaking countries.

President Bio told the French-speaking business community in Abidjan that his priority is to diversify the Sierra Leone economy through agronomics, fish farming, tourism and marine resources. He also praised the members of the Business General Confederation of Cote d’Ivoire for their performance, which has led to the growth of the Ivorian economy.

“I want to make this open invitation to all of you to come and invest in Sierra Leone to expand our private sector. There are great opportunities for us to strengthening economic cooperation,” President Bio said. 

The trade surplus of the ECOWAS region, estimated at about $47.3 billion, is attributable to Nigeria ($58.4 billion) and Côte d’Ivoire ($3.4 billion), according to recent figures.

Nigeria accounts for approximately 76 percent of total trade,  followed by Ghana (9.2 percent) and Côte d’Ivoire (8.64 percent).

President Bio also expressed his admiration for the efforts of the Ivorian government to teach English in schools. He said that his government will intensify the use of French K-16 in Sierra Leonean schools.

President Bio said his engagement with the Ivorian government during Sierra Leone's peace process in 1996 encouraged him to learn French.

He stated that while he appreciated having a translator during the negotiations he made a promise to himself that he would learn French.

Sierra Leone signed the  Abidjan Peace Accord in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire on November 30, 1996, to try to bring an end to the Sierra Leone Civil War (1991–2002).

The two main signatories were President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah of Sierra Leone and Foday Sankoh, leader of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel group. However, Sankoh refused to honor the terms of the agreement, and Kabbah was forced into exile by a May 1997 military coup (though he regained power the following year), so the Accord failed to bring about peace.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ebola: The More We Learn, the More We Realize How Much We Don't Know

Image
Alex Bonapha, chairman, Kailahun District Council O bservers say the controversy erupting in Kailahun over the case of a dead baby might just open up critical questions on the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. "While the child appears to be at the center of this controversy, the real question being raised here is the mode of transmission: Is this virus transmitted or transfused?" asks Chernor Bah, chairman of the African Socialist Movement of Sierra Leone. Bah thinks “we need to listen to Mr. Bonapha's concerns.” A lex Bonapha is chairman of Kailahun District Council. In a tersely worded statement sent out Saturday, Bonapha said: "We are strongly contesting the validity of the one case today in Kailahun.  A young child of 9 months, fell ill and was hospitalised at the Nixon Memorial Hospital in Segbwema. They requested blood transfusion and a donor offered his blood. Eventually the child died and a swab was collected to verify the cause of death. It is this...
Read more

28 Years Since the Death of Salami Coker

In words that echoed around the world, a commission of inquiry in Sierra Leone held the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) responsible for extrajudicial killings in1992. The junta's attempt to justify these executions retrospectively by decree, on the basis that the 26 people were alleged coup plotters, was an unlawful abuse of executive power, the commission said. In particular, the Commission found that the deputy chairman of the NPRC, Solomon A.J. Musa, was personally responsible for acts of torture on detainees. They called the executions a flagrant violation of international standards.   Among those executed on December 29, 1992, were: Lt. Col James Yaya Kanu, former commanding officer of the 4th Battalion James Bambay Kamara, former Inspector General of Police Corporal Mohammed Mansaray, alias Candapa of the 1st Battalion Warrant Officer Class 1 Kargbo, alias Fernando of the 1st Battalion headquarters Lieutenant colonel (Rtd.) Kahota M.S. Dumbuya, Army Head...
Read more

'Magazine Has Lost A Son'

Image
President Koroma sympathizes with the Fadika family Tuesday, August 8 Moseray Fadika was a keynote speaker at yet another event Friday, Aug. 5, when he felt ill and was rushed to an emergency room.  The man would die later that evening at the Royal London Hospital, in Whitechapel, east London. The cause of death is still unknown.  Fadika’s sudden loss has sent shockwaves through Sierra Leoneans online, across the small West African country and around the world. Frost Illustrated, a weekly newspaper in Fort Wayne, Indiana, described the popular  businessman-philanthropist turned politician as one of the wealthiest men in Sierra Leone, who built his fortune in extractive industries. Sierra Leone is rich in mineral resources. Diamonds, gold, bauxite, rutile and iron ore are known to exist in large quantities. Fadika never made Forbes Africa’s wealthiest lists, and no one knows just how much he was really worth. But by some estimates, he could have been Sier...
Read more