By Simon Ebegbulem

BENIN—THE Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, a non  governmental organisation,  has tasked President Goodluck Jonathan to use the opportunity of his invitation to the Group of Eight Summit, which will hold in Canada later this month, to canvass for debt cancellation for poor countries.

Hailing the invitation extended to Nigeria for the Summit, which will bring together the world’s most advanced economies, the group also tasked the President to take up the issue of capital flight from Nigeria and other developing countries, pointing out that many resources are flowing from the developing countries to advanced economies, most  of them corruptly acquired.

President of  ANEEJ, Reverend David Ugolor, who spoke to Vanguard in Benin, weekend, noted that the invitation extended to Nigeria would be the first in recent years.

He said President Jonathan is,  therefore, expected to make a serious impact at the Summit, tackling issues that affects developing countries, particularly African nations.

On the need for President Jonathan to prioritize aid effectiveness and debt cancellation for poor countries, Ugolor said, “eventhough Nigeria is out of the debt crisis, most African countries are still highly indebted and poor.

 Meeting the Millennium Development Goals will be a mirage by 2015 unless the G8 tackles frontally, the issues of poverty occasioned by debt crisis and undelivered aid promises at similar meetings of the developed countries.

“Canada, the host of this year’s G8 Summit, is interested in reducing infant and maternal mortality rates and Nigeria is one of the worse hit. We would like President Jonathan to join forces with Canada to press for the centralization of efforts at reducing the high incidence of infant and maternal mortality rates,” the group added.