Fred McBangonluri
President and Provost of academic city University, Prof. Fred McBangonluri has urged the government to integrate digital skills into the national development plan to harness the potential of the youth for Ghana’s digital revolution.
Prof. Fred McBangonluri who made the call when he addressed dozens of people at the ALX Youth & Tech Dialogue in Accra said Ghana’s digital revolution should be a national mission that hinges on the talent of the youth.
According to him, achieving significant progress in the country’s digital revolution required the support of the private sector players and Institutions of higher learning.
He said the government could also achieve that by providing tax breaks for tech startups, investing in youth training, hiring local talents, and relooking at the curricula on digital skills to match the needs of the industry.
“There is no option for that. It has to be a collective journey. It must be holistic, it has to be willfully thought about. We need to go at it with a positive mindset. We need affordable Internet access as a national development priority, “he stated.
He also highlighted the need for the youth not only to be consumers of digital content but also to create content, support local startup businesses online, and desist from using digital platforms to engage in acts that are not detrimental to the development of the country.
Prof. McBangonluri further mentioned that although Ghana’s natural resource wealth such as gold, cocoa, and oil has contributed significantly to the socio-economic development of the country, the government should rather focus on the talent of the youth to drive the country’s digital revolution agenda.
Skills in coding, skills in artificial intelligence, data science and analytics, and digital entrepreneurship. These variables are no longer optional, they are essential. To achieve this we must intentionally focus on integrating coding into the basic education curriculum, ensuring every child can think digitally,” he added.
Nana Darko Asiedu, ALX Country Manager for his part said the company has over the years provided digital skills to enable graduates to become employable in their respective fields of work.
He said ALX, which has a goal of training 3 million ethical and entrepreneurial leaders has already trained over 100,000 youth since 2022 in various tech programmes including software engineering, data science, and AI essential programmes.
The country manager also stated there were already plans in place to increase its enrolment to 150, 000 with a focus on increasing female participants in tech programmes while expanding its scope to various rural communities.
Nana Asiedu further mentioned that the company has over the years focused mainly on University graduates and career professionals, it has expanded the scope to high school graduates to enable them to acquire knowledge in basic digital skills, use of AI tools, and coding among others.
He said such digital training would not only make them become employable individuals, trained to provide solutions globally in the digital space but they will be able to create jobs for themselves.
The tech dialogue held under the theme “Unlocking youth’s potential for Ghana’s Digital transformation” brought together the youth working in the digital space, industry leaders in tech, students, professionals in IT, and academia among others.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah