During the graduation ceremony of the inaugural class of the Public Finance Management Academy for Africa (PFMA), Kevin Chika Urama, Chief Economist and Vice President, Economic Governance and Knowledge at the African Development Bank, unveiled a shocking truth: African nations hemorrhage a staggering $90 billion each year due to illicit financial flows. Urama passionately called for a united effort to address this critical issue.
The PFMA, greenlit by the Bank Group’s Board of Directors in June 2022, aims to provide structured capacity development in Public Financial Management (PFM) across African countries. Urama emphasized the strategic importance of PFM in enhancing economic governance and knowledge management for wealth creation and prudent public finance management.
Urama underscored the urgency of tackling issues within the PFM ecosystems, stating that mismanagement often leads to financial challenges in Africa, despite its natural resource richness. The first cohort of the PFMA, comprising 145 officials from 45 African countries, saw 52 officials from 26 countries successfully completing the 18-month program, earning certification as PFM experts.
Acknowledging institutional partners like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, Urama called on the graduates to champion transparency and accountability in their respective countries, urging them to contribute to Africa’s efforts to efficiently manage resources and enhance productivity.
SPECIAL ADVISER TO THE PRESIDENT (ECONOMIC AFFAIRS) IN THE OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA.
the Special Adviser to the President on Economic Affairs, praised the PFMA’s comprehensive curriculum and highlighted the role of the graduates in achieving the African Development Bank’s High 5’s Agenda, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and the AU Agenda 2063. Fasua expressed support for the PFMA as a platform for aggregating knowledge and encouraged its expansion to other areas of capacity development.
Isaac Kurasha, one of the PFMA graduates, reflected on the enriching 18-month journey, emphasizing the transformative impact on his understanding of the PFM cycle. He urged fellow graduates to be advocates for change, implementing learned principles in their respective jurisdictions. Kurasha commended the AfDB for the initiative and expressed optimism about the positive contributions graduates would make to their countries and societies, calling for continued focus on gender mainstreaming, climate change, and financing in future capacitacion efforts by the African Development Institute.
Source: Business Day