World Record
On Marble
Nothing is impossible, the word itself says, “I’m possible!”
– Audrey Hepburn
February 3, 2007 - The tallest male giraffe measured stood 19 ft 3 in (5.88 meters) tall. The tallest female giraffe measured stood 16 ft10 in (5.17m)
Sanctity of Truth
w w w. new tel eg rap ho nl i ne. co m
Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon and the truth – Buddha MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 2014
N150
Living in a changing world (2) Continued from last Tuesday limate change will only serve to amplify existing resource stresses. On current trajectories, half of the global population will be living in water scarce countries by the end of the century and 35 percent of Sub-Sahara’s cropland will become unsuitable for cultivation, with severe impacts on food security. The world’s farmers will need to produce 70 percent more food by 2050 to feed a population expected to pass nine billion people. And a rising middle class is also poised to trigger political changes in emerging economies. As these countries become more participatory and the middle class gets a stronger voice, the challenge is to maintain the focus on inclusive, pro poor and climate- smart growth. II. Second, Galloping Urbanisation We all know cities have been long been a magnet, but the numbers today are growing exponentially. Today’s urban population of about 3.6 billion people is projected to reach 5 billion by 2030. The world will then be two-thirds urban, with 90 percent of this growth in the cities of South Asia and Africa.The built up area used by cities will double from 2000 to 2030. At the same time, urban densities are decreasing which will see the cost of delivering infrastructure services rise and make housing costs higher and less affordable. The move to urbanization is of course not unique to the developing world. Virtually no country has moved up the ladder to high income status without urbanising. Urbanisation matters for people wanting a path out of poverty. For every ten people lifted out of poverty in the East Asia and Pacific region, two were helped simply because of the urbanization process. Even in Sub-Saharan Africa, half of the drop in poverty originated in urban areas and through the urbanization process. The Megacities But urbanisation today is much more about the growth of megacities - where the sheer number of residents can easily be larger than those of many countries. In 1970, the world only had two megacities – Tokyo and New York. In 2011, there were 23 – accounting for 9.9 per cent of the world urban population. Basically the number of people living in megacities had multiplied almost ten times. By 2025, the number of megacities is expected to increase to 37. Asia will have gained another nine, Latin America
C
Guest Columnist
Caroline Anstey
two, and Africa, Europe and Northern America one each. And it will be people living in megacities in the developing world who’ll feel those cities swell. Some estimate that in cities, one billion people will enter the global “consuming class” by 2025, with enough income to become significant consumers of goods and services – injecting around $20 trillion a year in extra spending into the world economy. The Urban Face of Poverty • But the growth of cities and megacities has also brought an urban face to poverty. There are now some one billion people living in urban slums in developing countries. And their numbers are projected to grow by nearly 500 million between now and 2020. Slums are growing the fastest in Sub-Saharan Africa, south-east and western Asia. • And its women and children who bear the brunt of improper sanitation and poor health care in slums. Lack of adequate sanitation can affect a teenage girl’s schooling. In Kenya’s urban slums girls in grade 4 to 8 who’ve reached puberty miss – on average – six learning weeks a year. III. Third, The Mobile Revolution Today, more people have access to a mobile phone than a toilet. With some six billion mobile phone subscriptions in use worldwide, three quarters of the world’s inhabitants now have access to a mobile. The developing world is now more mobile than the developed. Innovations that began in Africa – like dual SIM card mobile phones or using mobiles for remittance payments – are now spreading across the continent and beyond. ICT’s directly contribute around seven per cent of Africa’s GDP, which is higher than the global average. While that’s impressive, it’s also transforming the lives of ordinary Africans with mobile phones used for financial services in Kenya, agricultural market information services in Ghana, electronic filing of taxes in South Africa or sensor based irrigation systems in Egypt revolutionising traditional practices. New tools are helping Africans face challenges like climate change or HIV/AIDS and the wider use of ICT in government is
Anstey, World Bank MD
bringing more openness and transparency. We’ve already seen mobile money has transformed the Kenyan economy, where mobile-facilitated payments now equate to a fifth of the country’s gross domestic product. And with improvements in fibre optic connectivity and open platforms, Africa’s now being touted as being on the verge of becoming a major beneficiary of massive open online course – leapfrogging into digital education. Some 68,000 kilometres of submarine cable and over 615,000 kilometres of national backbone networks have been laid in the past few years. The internet bandwidth available to Africa’s one billion citizens grew 20-fold between 2008 and 2012. These electronic highways will provide the trading routes of the future. IV. Fourth: Women, the Next Emerging Market. Today women are the next emerging market. The financial power of women is expanding at a faster rate than at any other time in history, with much of this growth in emerging markets. Global consumer spending by women is projected at $28 trillion in 2014, up from $20 trillion in 2009. And the growth of women-owned businesses is one of the most profound changes in the business world today. But that potential is still grossly under-supported. On average only five to ten percent of women owned businesses in the developing world have access to commer-
cial bank loans. And women owned businesses account for only 3 percent of venture capital investments globally. And yet we know that under-investing in women not only limits economic and social development, it puts a brake on poverty reduction. Seeds and fertilizer in the hands of a woman can boost crops. Cash in the hands of a woman can increase twentyfold the chance of her child’s survival. And a business in the hands of a woman can thrive. In the USA today women owned firms are growing at twice the rate of all other firms, contributing nearly $3 trillion to the US economy and directly responsible for 23 million jobs. we also know that Today, worldwide fewer than half of women have jobs, compared to almost four-fifths of men and yet interviews with women in 93 communities across 20 countries show that women aspire to work for pay. So why is there this vast untapped economic and productive potential? Worldwide, education levels of women have increased. It is barriers like legislation, cultural restrictions, informal work, and limited access to finance which are holding women back. Our Report on Women Business and the Law surveyed 141 economies to look at those barriers to gender equality. In 102 out of those 141 economies, there is at least one legal difference that can hinder women’s economic opportunities. That’s a pretty large indictment, but it also means that there is potential for a big shift in this area. Concluded
OMOBABA
FASHOLA REVERSES LASU FEES TO N25,000 - News
– Hope it won't go up after 2015 Election?
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