Vice President, Chief Dr. Jewel Howard Taylor, has received the UK-based African Leadership Magazine (ALM) award of excellence in Abuja, Nigeria, on Friday, April 29, 2022.
According to a dispatch, the ALM honored VP Howard-Taylor for her stellar leadership qualities and unwavering advocacy for gender equality in Africa.
The award ceremony for the Vice President was part of the ALM’s Africa Legislative and Good Governance Conference on the theme “Policy, Justice, and Global Cooperation for Building Back Better.”
According to the ALM, the conference’s purpose was to examine “the role of the parliament, judiciary, and other agencies of government in promoting fast-tracked sustainable economic development in Africa after the pandemic induced disruption.”
The conference also highlighted the interplay of the law and lawmakers in promoting good governance in Africa while also evolving solutions to some of the continent’s challenges. “
In her keynote speech titled “African Cooperation for Building Strong, Resilient, and Sustainable Economies,” Vice President Howard-Taylor addressed the sufficiency of regional laws and policies for the cooperation needed to build strong, resilient, and sustainable African economies.
She said development challenges could be overcome with the political will to overcome adversities.
The Liberian Vice President cited the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) as the development and trade dispensations that can address interregional development issues if administered adequately to benefit Member States.
She emphasized the rule of law as the glue that could propel legislative aspirations and dispute resolution in Africa. She also cited some challenges of the RECs and the Community Court of Justice, which is an institution of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), to make this point.
The Vice President said what was needed to overcome legal challenges was the adherence to implementable enabling rules that are acceptable and binding on all Member States.
“In the end, integrative policy, justice, and African cooperation were required for the development of strong, resilient, and sustainable economies,” she emphasized.
She concluded that the political will of African governments to implement measures that can overcome adversities based on the rule of law was needed to enforce laws that would benefit all Member States in promoting sustainable human development.
The event was co-sponsored by the African Leadership Organization, whose President is Dr. Ken Giami, and the National Bar Association (NBA) of the United States, led by Judge Carlos Moore.
In attendance were prominent Nigerian and African-American legal and business luminaries and an NBA delegation that is also part of a trade mission to Nigeria and Liberia.
On the margins of the conference, Vice President Chief Dr. Jewel Howard- Taylor, a former First Lady of Liberia, paid a courtesy visit to the First Lady of Nigeria, Dr. Mrs. Aisha Muhammadu Buhari.
