The Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, H. E. Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia has admonished that in order for Africa to have a better economy, there is the need for Africans to build their human capacity.
He gave this advice at the 3rd Advancement Lecture Series organized by the Institutional Advancement Center of the University of Cape Coast on Wednesday, 4th October 2017.
Speaking on the topic, “Developing Stronger Economies For The African Continent: The Missing Link,” Dr. Bawumia indicated that the quest to understand the success and otherwise of the economy of nations has been in existence since the 70’s as researchers and philosophers have sought to understand this phenomenon.
“The question of how countries develop and build strong economy is one that has preoccupied economists since the days of Adam Smith who focused on the enquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations.”
The Vice President in his speech stated that building the productive capacity of nations, which is a key to developing the economy of countries, is missing in the developing of stronger African economies.
Citing the economies of countries such as Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, and Mauritius he explained that “countries with stronger productive capacities build stronger economies”.
“Strong economies are built on the back of strong and steadily expanding productive capacity of nations on the back of sound economic governance,” he added.
The Vice President went on further saying that over the years, Africa’s economic development has been on the bedrock of exploiting resources available to the continent, the exportation of unprocessed raw materials.
This, according to him, has made Africa’s economy vulnerable to commodity price short, lose the opportunities to create jobs by processing raw materials available to the continent, and unable to use these natural resources as the basis to industrialise and to expand a productive capacity.
The combination of these, he said, means that “we have non resilient, weak and undiversified economy”.
Dr. Bawumia thus stated that it is expedient for Africa to develop her human capacity in order to better the economy situation on the continent.
“Developing human capacity is the first step in building skills, knowledge, and creative capabilities. It is intrinsic to individuals means as higher incomes and more rewarding careers.”
He again said that “developing technological capacity much of which depend on our human capacity in scientific thinking is the second pillar to building productive capacities and stronger economies.”
“Any nation that cannot create new ideas, that cannot develop risk taking entrepreneurial classes will never lead the march of progress,” he added.
The Vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah was the chairman for the programme.
The Advancement Lecture Series is an annual programme which forms part of the University’s responsibility to engage the general public on issues of national interest.
Source: Godfred Mawugbe | Choicism.com
