Accelerating Growth in Africa!

From our high school days, we have been taught and can recite without hesitation that technology is the application of knowledge for practical especially industrial purposes. With time, technology has transcended this definition to become both immaterial and material realities birthed by this application to enact change (either positive or negative). Innovation, for this topic, will be defined as a technological creation.

The relationship between Africa and technology can be dated as far back as 2000BC with notable innovations such as mathematics handwritten by the Egyptians more than 35,000 years ago, advances in metallurgical activities such as nails, copper and iron tools, bronze weapons, etc., medicinal breakthroughs such as tetracycline and the vaccine against yellow fever to mention but a few.

Bodacious opportunities for African development have been unleashed due to the creation of connections between nations, organizations, and people through new global networks. This technology bridging the gap in this modern world stands among humanity’s notable accomplishments. A student of the University of Ghana can read the newest research from foreign research bodies. A farmer in Nigeria can purchase fertilizers and agricultural inputs to improve yields through e-vouchers made available on their mobile devices. Academic certificates can be issued without students having to be within the four walls of a tertiary institution due to numerous courses available online.

Across the African continent, many youths are rapidly embracing and acclimating themselves to technology to accommodate their desires and the needs of their nations. Furthermore, in recentness, productivity has augmented in several African countries which can be credited to the current utilization of provisions made by technology acclimatization. Across industries, though used varyingly, ICT has affected business production processes and productivity.

Given an opportunity to access technology, a lot of African youths will do so without hesitation. In Lagos, Nigeria, there exists a tech hub where technologically enthusiastic youths are always on their laptop computers tapping away on the keyboards, practicing skills of coding that they have one way or the other picked from numerous online teaching platforms.

So far, the greater use of technology has been by individuals and not the African governments. The government has put rather little political capital to advance institutional reforms as the system is characterized by the “elites” sharing the spoils among themselves. Countries whose governments have utilized the available technologies have experienced and are still experiencing fast growth and soaring revenues.

Across many of the developing spheres, governments lack the structures, skills, and systems to deliver the amendments needed for their prosperity. At this point, help can be solicited from the international community. Policies need to focus on assisting leaders with visions to solve problems through technological results. This can be implemented by the provision of electricity or the creation of several jobs and means of livelihood. The adoption of this kind of approach is what has assisted countries like Zambia to make bestride in areas such as agriculture and education, that commingle technological solutions.

An assemblage of new technologies will have a huge impact on the continent of Africa because it can help solve the majority of Africa’s persisting problems. Problems such as a high rate of diseases, low farm productivity, faulty educational systems, and industries. A vaccine developed for yellow fever will make save millions of lives in Africa, as it proves to be one life-threatening disease. Erik Hersmann once said and I quote “You cannot have a 21st-century economy without power and connectivity, but if you have those, you can do almost anything.”