Experts at the ongoing Transform Africa Summit in Kigali, Rwanda have resolved on the need to bridge skills in the Information Technology for rapid development of Africa.
The summit was organised by Smart Africa, an organisation formed by seven heads of state in 2013 aimed at using technology to advance socio-economic development and improve access to technology in Africa.
The three-day summit, which has in attendance over 3,000 participants brought together heads of states, ministers of ICT, private sectors and ICT experts across the continent.
They said that in spite of the potential of technology in developing the continent, shortage of adequate skills across Africa had been an impediment.
The experts said that oftentimes, countries lacked the right skills set to mainstream ICTs in their development agendas.
They considered among other options inviting and partnering with higher learning institutions that offered the latest skills in ICT.
Gabonese Minister of Digital Economy and Post Office, Alain-Claude Bilie, said that countries should partner with institutions that offer the latest skills in ICT sector development.
He said that on top of partnering with global top-notch institutions of higher learning, countries should also invest in strengthening domestic ones.
According to him, this will in the long run serve to overhaul some of the outdated curricula being used by African countries when building ICT skills.
Dr Takao Toda, the Vice President for Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) said that it was time to review basic education curriculum to ensure that learners were better prepared when they entered tertiary institutions.
Toda said that it was time to review basic education curriculum to ensure that learners were well equipped.
He also suggested Pan-African high education centres to develop skills relevant to the African continent.
Amadou Daffe the CEO of Gebeya said that they continued contracting and outsourcing of jobs to people from outside the continent had made it difficult to develop internal skills.
Gebeya is a firm that seeks to provide marketplace for top IT talent
Daffe said that the continued contracting and outsourcing of jobs to people from outside the continent had made it difficult to develop skills in the continent.
“We still continue to bring in expatriates to take on jobs that Africans can handle. It is hard to develop the skills if we keep giving away jobs that our people can do,” he said.
He advocated for the use of African corporations to incubate and develop skills across the continent. (NAN)
