Prof. Douglas Boateng
African governments have been urged to make engineers a major part of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) initiatives in order to achieve its desired outcome to boost intra-African trade for sustainable growth.
A chartered industrial engineer, Prof. Douglas Boateng, in his presentation at the inaugural Ghana Institution of Engineers (GhIE)/Professor Douglas Boateng Annual Lectures said African leaders have failed to recognise engineers in their industrialisation drive, hence the slow pace of economic development.
He stated that countries such as Japan, Vietnam, US, China among others have become the admiration of many countries due to the involvement of engineers in their strategic plans.
Prof. Boateng further mentioned that engineers are social entrepreneurs who will not only contribute to a nation’s long term development plan but also help various governments to implement them.
He said Ghana could take advantage of opportunities associated with AfCFTA and support engineers to drive industrialisation by producing basic products such as underwear, socks for the African continent to reduce importation and enhance the export of these products to other African countries.
He added that the destruction of Ghana’s agricultural lands and water bodies through illegal small scale mining activities, popularly called ‘Galamsey’ can best be solved if engineers are made part of finding solutions to the problem.
“One district, one factory was a laudable policy that could have helped to drive the industrialisation agenda of this country, but how many engineers were part of the plan and its implementation,” he quizzed.
Prof. Boateng added that though Ghana has made some progress, it could do better than its current state if engineers were considered as critical partners in development.
President of the GhIE, Ing. Kwabena Bempong, said engineering lies at the heart of Africa’s economic transformation.
He said AfCFTA therefore amplifies the importance of strategic sourcing which calls for the need for innovative solutions for the continent to overcome its challenges and drive sustainable growth.
“If we do not take advantage of AfCFTA and the 1.4 billion population to produce, we will become net consumers with huge trade imbalances,” he added.
He, therefore, called on the government to utilise the expertise of engineers in a bid to transform the country.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah