Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs, on Thursday decried the increasing number of African medical doctors and engineers in Europe and North America saying, "it is time to halt the intellectual flight."
He said Ghana and Nigeria for instance have more medical doctors and engineers working and contributing to the development of Europe and North America than they have at home.
Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey was opening the 11th African Business Round (ABR) Table Conference in Accra under the theme: Regional Economic Integration and Private Sector Development in Africa".
The ABR, founded in Cairo in 1990 by Dr Babacar Ndiaye, is a continent-wide association of African business leaders. It is a non-profit association devoted to promoting the private sector in Africa.
Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey urged African leaders to work harder to create equity in the flow of wealth and human capital to ensure that intellectual flight became a thing of the past and that Africans and people of African descent would feel proud and willing to invest on the continent.
He said Africa's fast declining human capital needed to be aggressively developed, using extraordinary measures "Extraordinary measures have to be taken to train and educate a large number of Africans to participate in the reconstruction of the continent," he said. "This capacity has to be created within the continent, possibly in an integrated manner at regional levels."
Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey stressed the need for Africans to start building and creating confidence in their own institutions, especially education, legal, financial and political systems. "These institutions must be strengthened to make them play optimum roles," he said.
"It is ridiculous that Africans spend millions of dollars educating their children abroad while our schools lack basic items such as pencils and pens not to count computers and printers."
He urged African leaders to start laying foundation for a better Africa. "An Africa that will be respected and self reliant and not a recipient of aid. An Africa whose children will be proud to be Africans and those who can confidently hold their own amongst the world's people."
Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, Executive President of ABR, called for a road map "to our targeted objective of private sector empowerment and mobilisation by the public sector. It is the surest way to economic development."
He said first, there must be in place government-supported policy instruments governing rule of law and financial regulations and other policy frameworks conducive to international standards and practices.
He said transparency and accountability must not only be legislated but also fully backed by effective enabling instruments. "In other words, corruption and fraud must be openly punished and their negative impact on socio-economic progress vividly exposed."
Mr Sam Jonah, Chief Executive of Ashanti Goldfields who chaired the plenary sessions, appealed to Africans in the Diaspora to return and invest their monies in the reconstruction of the continent.
"It is only Africans abroad who can entice, encourage or motivate foreigners to come and invest in Africa. This they must do by first putting their own investments first."
He stressed the need for good governance, rule of law and the shedding of thoughts that make the activities of the private sector uncomfortable.
Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs, on Thursday decried the increasing number of African medical doctors and engineers in Europe and North America saying, "it is time to halt the intellectual flight."
He said Ghana and Nigeria for instance have more medical doctors and engineers working and contributing to the development of Europe and North America than they have at home.
Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey was opening the 11th African Business Round (ABR) Table Conference in Accra under the theme: Regional Economic Integration and Private Sector Development in Africa".
The ABR, founded in Cairo in 1990 by Dr Babacar Ndiaye, is a continent-wide association of African business leaders. It is a non-profit association devoted to promoting the private sector in Africa.
Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey urged African leaders to work harder to create equity in the flow of wealth and human capital to ensure that intellectual flight became a thing of the past and that Africans and people of African descent would feel proud and willing to invest on the continent.
He said Africa's fast declining human capital needed to be aggressively developed, using extraordinary measures "Extraordinary measures have to be taken to train and educate a large number of Africans to participate in the reconstruction of the continent," he said. "This capacity has to be created within the continent, possibly in an integrated manner at regional levels."
Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey stressed the need for Africans to start building and creating confidence in their own institutions, especially education, legal, financial and political systems. "These institutions must be strengthened to make them play optimum roles," he said.
"It is ridiculous that Africans spend millions of dollars educating their children abroad while our schools lack basic items such as pencils and pens not to count computers and printers."
He urged African leaders to start laying foundation for a better Africa. "An Africa that will be respected and self reliant and not a recipient of aid. An Africa whose children will be proud to be Africans and those who can confidently hold their own amongst the world's people."
Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, Executive President of ABR, called for a road map "to our targeted objective of private sector empowerment and mobilisation by the public sector. It is the surest way to economic development."
He said first, there must be in place government-supported policy instruments governing rule of law and financial regulations and other policy frameworks conducive to international standards and practices.
He said transparency and accountability must not only be legislated but also fully backed by effective enabling instruments. "In other words, corruption and fraud must be openly punished and their negative impact on socio-economic progress vividly exposed."
Mr Sam Jonah, Chief Executive of Ashanti Goldfields who chaired the plenary sessions, appealed to Africans in the Diaspora to return and invest their monies in the reconstruction of the continent.
"It is only Africans abroad who can entice, encourage or motivate foreigners to come and invest in Africa. This they must do by first putting their own investments first."
He stressed the need for good governance, rule of law and the shedding of thoughts that make the activities of the private sector uncomfortable.
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