President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina has told countries to prioritize lives and health over resources.

He made this statement in his opinion piece for the CNN today.

“In the face of this pandemic, we must put lives above resources and health above debt”. Akinwumi Adesina in CNN OpEd. @BillGates @PaulKagame @antonioguterres @EmmanuelMacron @BorisJohnson @KGeorgieva @CyrilRamaphosa @AUC_MoussaFaki @AminaJMohammed @DrTedros @NOIweala

— Akinwumi A. Adesina (@akin_adesina) April 3, 2020

The former Nigerian Minister of Agriculture warned countries that only those who are alive can pay debts and as such, lives and health must be placed above resources and debts.

Stressing the need for countries to unify, he said:

“There is no coronavirus for developed countries and a coronavirus for developing and debt-stressed countries. We are all in this together.”

As such, he told countries to lift all sanctions placed on their economies.