POLITICS
Research, Development, Panacea for Africa’s Economic Diversification – ECA
Sustainable industrialisation and economic diversification will occur on the African continent if African countries invest in research and development, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has declared.
Its Acting Executive Secretary, Mr Antonio Pedro, stated yesterday that such investments would help to harness technology for a green, inclusive and resilient Africa.
Pedro spoke at the opening of the fifth African Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Forum 2023 in Niamey.
The STI forum is a side event heralding the 9th Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD).
The theme of this year’s Forum is “Accelerating development and diffusion of emerging technologies.
”“To build on the innovative spirit, we must strengthen the enabling environment.
“This will be done through informed policies, increased investment in research and development, and harnessing the support of the private sector more effectively.
“Africa should be at the forefront of a green transformation to accelerate growth, diversify economies and deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Agenda 2063,” he stated.
The SDGs or Global Goals set by the UN in 2015 are a collection of 17 interlinked objectives designed to serve as a “shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet now and into the future’’
Pedro also stated that: “our key opportunity lies in the renewable energy market. Its market value in 2020 was estimated at 881.7 billion dollars and is projected to reach 1,977.6 billion dollars by 2030.”
He said ECA and its partners had completed the STI policy design and implementation guide which countries could use regardless of the policy implementation cycle.
In the statement, Niger’s Minister for Secondary and Higher Education, Research and Technology, Mr Habi Mahamadou, said STI was a cross-cutting theme that depended on policy framework, education, and infrastructure.
According to Mahamadou, the biggest challenge of STIs in Africa is lack of human and technological capacity.
“Countries need to strengthen their capacities in science, technology and innovation.
“Even though STI is key in achieving Africa’s development agenda 2063 and SDG agenda 2030, African governments are still lagging in their commitment to STI.
“STI can only be accelerated by human capital infrastructure development,” he stressed.
ECA Director for Technology, Climate Change and Natural Resources Management, Mr Jean-Paul Adam, said science and technology were “innovation catalysts”.
Adam said it was important for African countries to upscale what they already did in science and technology.
“we must have human capital development linked to the diaspora to transform innovation in Africa and leverage the opportunity provided by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.
“African governments must have clear policies on science and technology, give tax incentives, and have measurable objectives in the development plan for effective transition from a consumer Africa to a producer Africa,” he said.
Mr Dimitri Sanga, Director, UNESCO Regional Office for West Africa, said it was important to have open science in Africa.
According to Sanga, there is the need to promote open access to publications and scientific data, transparency of peer review, and participatory science.
He added that UNESCO had developed the recommendation on open science.
“Member states adopted this recommendation in 2021, and we are working with them to implement it.
“I am optimistic about the results of our work, which shall contribute fully to enable Africa to be a resilient, green and prosperous continent,’’ Sanga said.
African Union Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Mr Mohamed Belhocine, said the commission had developed a plan for the education of women.
According to Belhocine, the plan will address women’s educational challenges and encourage more girls to undertake Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education.
STEM is an umbrella term used to group together the distinct but related technical disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The term is typically used in the context of education policy or curriculum choices in schools
Belhocine added that digital skills, science and technology were important to building digital transformation in Africa.
Meanwhile, Rwanda’s Minister of Education, Ms Valentine Uwamariya, provided an update on the 4th ARFSD forum held in Kigali, Rwanda, in 2022.
Uwamariya said that four countries had joined the Alliance for entrepreneurs universities in Africa formed during the Forum.
“STI Forum has been organised in May 2023, and Africa will take a lead role.
“Collaboration centre for science and technology between ECA and the Rwandan government has been finalised,” she said.
Emma Theophilus, Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Technology in Namibia, noted that funding for research and development, particularly in STI by countries, was still low.
Theophilus said that this, together with census on capacity on STI, needed to be strengthened in the systems.
The results of the two-day STI side event will feed into the work of the African Regional Forum on Sustainable Development, which will begin from February 28 to March 2 in Niamey. (NAN)
The Abia Chapter of the INEC Staff Welfare Association (ISWA) has warned its members to uphold the integrity of the commission and guard against the culture of manipulating election results.
The Abia Chairman of the association, Mr Collins Eze, gave the advice at the group’s general meeting and end-of-year party in Umuahia.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen on the sideline of the ceremony, Eze said that the staff members were adequately aware of their enormous responsibility and should ensure free, fair and credible elections.
He said: “We have also told our colleagues that anywhere they find themselves they should make sure that they do the needful by ensuring transparency in the conduct of elections.
“We have always told them not to allow anybody to induce them with money to manipulate election results.
“I’m happy that they have been building the capacity of our colleagues on election processes.
“So, in the coming years, we won’t have any problem in ensuring free, fair and peaceful elections.”
He said that the end-of-year party was special as it afforded them the opportunity “to wine and dine together as well as thank God for sustaining them in 2024”.
Eze said that his leadership had introduced various means of assisting members in dire financial needs by providing platforms to solicit suppory for them.
He expressed gratitude to members for their support and cooperation, describing them as the “secret behind the success of this administration”.
He said that 34 of at least 350 staff members of the commission in the state retired from service in 2024.
According to him, the development has placed a huge financial burden on the association, in terms of their welfare and entitlement as members.
Report says that each member received a carton of tomato paste as Christmas gift from the association. (NAN)
A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has told the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be thankful to God that its 16-year administration was not probed by the successive APC-led governments.Okechukwu stated this on Tuesday in Abuja, while reacting to a statement by PDP congratulating Ghanaians for the conduct of free, fair and transparent general elections.
Report says that PDP had, in a statement, said that the verdict of the people of Ghana in the presidential election was a signal to the APC that its days were numbered. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, had said in the statement that the power of the people in Nigeria, just like in Ghana, would ‘surely prevail and end the APC’s oppressive rule’.This, he said, would “return Nigeria to the path of good governance, security, political stability and economic prosperity on the platform of the PDP in 2027.”However, in his reactions to Ologunagba’s statement, Okechukwu said that the PDP clan should thank God that former President Muhammadu Buhari and President Bola Tinubu, out of sheer statesmanship, had refused to probe ‘the 16 locus years of PDP administrations’.Okechukwu, a former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), described the 16 years of PDP administrations as ones full of squandering and lack of plan.He said that Nigeria had yet to recover from the humongous culture of impunity and trust deficit planted by PDP on the Nigerian soil.Okechukwu said corruption was among the culture of impunity, saying it governed the privatisation of Nigeria’s electricity value chain, a key element in the country’s industrialisation drive.“Another is the blatant rigging of the 2007 general elections which the foremost beneficiary, President Umaru Yar’Adua, out of good conscience and noble magnanimity, publicly acknowledged the malfeasance which characterised his victory,” he said.Okechukwu also mentioned what he called conscienceless sale of the legislative and ministerial quarters, the annual rentage of which, he said, was bleeding the country’s treasury.“Another one is the neglect of $23 billion Greenfield Refinery, which could have saved over $70 billion expended on importation of refined petroleum products and which simulated the economic hardship of today,” he said.On why, for nine years, the APC administration could not fix those challenges, he recalled the efforts made by the Buhari administration to reopen talks on the Greenfield Refinery which, according to him, the Chinese regrettably rebuffed.The former VON director-general said that Nigerians were not in a hurry to forget the deliberate breach of the rotational convention of president from the north to the south.He said that the country could not also forget the utter disregard for Section 7 of the PDP’s constitution which expressly mandated zoning.Okechukwu advised the PDP not to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians by assuming that citizens would easily forget how they were put in the harms way.He said that PDP should thank God that Buhari and Tinubu did not want to probe them, adding “that’s why Nigerians cannot decipher the difference between the two political parties.” (NAN)
Sen. Ned Nwoko (PDP-Delta) says that Local Government Administration is central to democracy in Nigeria as it ensures grassroots governance and service delivery at the local level.This is contained in a statement signed by Dr Michael Nwoko, the Chief of Staff to the lawmaker in Abuja on Monday.Nwoko said this on the occasion of the presentation of an award “Icon of Hope” to him by the Association of Local Government Vice Chairmen of Nigeria (ALGOVC).
He was represented by his Chief of Staff. He said that the importance of local government administration in the country could not be overemphasised, as it was the bedrock of democracy.According to him, local governments in Nigeria play key roles in the country’s democracy by promoting participatory democracy, providing services, and representing citizens.“Local Governments help determine local needs and how to meet them. They also act as a link between the centre, state, and local people.“They are created to decentralise power and bring the government closer to the people. They perform both mandatory and concurrent functions.“It is in view of this that I took it upon myself to enhance the viability of local governments through the Paris and London club loan refunds,”he said.Dr Folashade Olabanji-Oba, ALGOVC National Chairman, while presenting the award at its 7th Annual National Conference, said the award was in recognition of the lawmaker’s significant contributions to strengthening local government administration.She highlighted Nwoko’s critical role in ensuring the Paris and London Club loan refunds, a financial breakthrough she said enhanced the capacity of local governments nationwide.(NAN)
NDA Commandant Decorates Ombugadu, Others as Fellows of Solar Energy Society of Nigeria
ShareFrom Abel Zwànke, Lafia The 2023 gubernatorial candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Nasarawa State, His Excellency Rt....
Yuletide: Bode George Urges Tinubu to Reduce Petrol Price
ShareChief Bode George, a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has urged President Bola Tinubu to...
Tinubu Set for Groundbreaking of Renewed Hope City in Lagos
Share President Bola Tinubu, is set to perform the groundbreaking of 2,000 housing units of the Renewed Hope City in...
Gov. Alia Presents N550.1bn as 2025 Budget Estimate to Benue Assembly
ShareGov. Hyacinth Alia on Wednesday presented the sum of N550.1bn as the 2025 appropriation bill to the Benue State House...
Tax Bills: NASS will not Betray the Trust of Nigerians, says Akpabio
Share The President of the Senate, Sen. Godswill Akpabio, says the National Assembly will prioritise the interest of all Nigerians...
Alia Has Demonstrated Capacity, Courage to Entrench Good Governance—Speaker
Share The Speaker, Benue Assembly, Mr Hyacinth Dajo, has said that Gov. Hyacinth Alia has so far demonstrated capacity, courage,...
Investors Gain N183bn on NGX
Share The Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) continued its bullish trend on Wednesday, gaining N183 billion. Accordingly, the market capitalisation, which...
Energy, Solid Minerals Top Priority, Tinubu Tells German Businessmen
Share President Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday, assured the German government and businessmen of Nigeria’s preparedness to expand frontiers for investors...
Nigerian Who Wrote WASSCE 17 Times Bags Distinction from London School
Share Dr Emmanuel Ahmadu, a Nigerian who wrote the West Africa School Senior Certificate Education 17 times, has earned a...
INEC Staff Welfare Association Warns Members Against Manipulating Election Results
Share The Abia Chapter of the INEC Staff Welfare Association (ISWA) has warned its members to uphold the integrity of...