ECOWAS Business News

*WILL HYDROCARBON RICH AFRICAN  COUNTRIES BE LEFT GASPING FOR BREATH IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE  CORONAVIRUS?* _Towards new imperatives for natural resource diversification_. *By*: *Fatima Denton, PhD* - _Fatima Denton is the Director of the Institute for Natural Resources in Africa at the United Nations University, Ghana_. Humanity  is witnessing  some of the most  profound changes seen  since the Great Depression.  And again, it is the vulnerable  among us who will suffer the worst  consequences. We are out on a limb,  witnessing the most disruptive global transformational  mutations observed in the past 100 years.  Several  parallels  can be drawn  between today's  Coronavirus and Albert  Camus' 1947 classic La Peste  – translated as "The 'Plague", set  in Oran, Algeria. True, this new Coronavirus  pandemic, Covid-19, bears eerie resemblance to Camus'  plague. Written at a time just prior to the

ECOWAS Commission, the executive arm of the ECOWAS institutions, has launched *ECOWAS Commission Staff Solidarity Fund for COVID19*, which target is *USD1 million as contributions from staff* across ECOWAS. Here is a copy of the rationale of the Fund picked from the statement, which is available upon request at ecowasbusinessnews@gmail.com : "Through this Solidarity Fund, we aim to support our Member States to:   i. *contain the spread of the disease* by supporting measures to "flatten the curve" and lower infection rates; ii. detect and understand the *magnitude and spread of the disease* ;   iii. *care for patients and heath care workers* in isolation or treatment centres; and   iv. *support organizations and people* whose livelihoods have been disrupted by the pandemic." ENDs