Africa is poised for transformation through the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), and experts are urging governments to seize this opportunity for sustainable development and growth.
They made this declaration at the recent SmartBlock4Africa conference hosted in Babcock University in collaboration with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and Valley View University, Ghana.
President/Vice Chancellor of Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo Ogun State,
Prof. Ademola Tayo who acknowledged the conference's timeliness especially in fostering intellectual development, expressed confidence that the cutting-edge tech discussions has what it takes to make Africa to transform the world
"Through cutting-edge tech and discussions, Africa can transform the world,” said
"I commend the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) for choosing Babcock to chart solutions to Africa's challenges."
Expressing similar views, LOC Chair and Babcock faculty, Prof. Oludele Awodele expressed optimism about Africa's future through blockchain particularly in managing big data.
He noted that the 4IR, characterized by emerging technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain, and Artificial Intelligence (AI), has the potential to transform various sectors such as healthcare, energy, agriculture, education, and governance.
Expressing similar views, Prof. Ifeyinwa Achumba, IEEE Chair Nigeria sector warned that Africa must adopt digital interventions across various sectors to achieve sustainable development.
This according to her, requires awareness, multi-stakeholder participation, public-private partnerships, education and talent development.
Prof. Achumba who was represented by Engineer Gerald Okafor stated that Africa must not miss out on the opportunities presented by the 4IR, having missed out on the benefits of the previous three industrial revolutions.
"To achieve sustainable development, Africa must adopt digital interventions across various sectors," she said
.
The experts identified key areas of impact, including economic growth and structural transformation, poverty and inequality reduction, labour, skills as well as production.
In his submission, Vice Chancellor of the Adventist University of Central Africa in Rwanda, Prof Penniecook Eustace, represented by Prof. Pacifique Nizeyimana, counsels African leaders and policy makers to move fast in ensuring that the continent maximizes tech to drive economic growth.
Similarly Dr. Lossan Bonde from the Adventist University of East Africa, Kenya described Knowledge as power; saying
knowledge must be acted upon, so not to render it useless
Aside these and calls to prioritize infrastructure development, participants argue that to fully leverage the benefits of the 4IR, Africa must invest in education and programmes to build skill-set, develop agile governance and cybersecurity measures.
By embracing the 4IR, Africa and Nigeria can take their place in the global economy and achieve sustainable development. “Africa stands at the precipice.
AI and other Tech can enhance Africa and even predict malaria before it really breaks out as well as help farmers to use digital tech to improve yields.
Dr. Bakare.Prof. Nicholae Goga, IEEE Chair (Region 8) and faculty of the University Politehnica Bucharest, stressed the need to seize the present opportunity for Africa to takes the lead
Let’s seize this moment to ensure that Africa emerges as a leader,” they said
Babcock University Senior Vice President Academics, Prof. Philemon Amanze and others were present to give their support as Africa’s quest for digital development takes a new turn.
No comments:
Post a Comment