ICT key to transforming Ghana’s economy – Bawumia

The Vice President of the Republic, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has reiterated the Nana Akufo-Addo government’s determination to transform Ghana’s economy through the use of Information Communication Technology in all spheres of national life.

Government is thus keen to provide opportunities for Ghanaians, especially students, to acquire cutting edge knowledge in ICT to drive the digitisation agenda and improve the life of the ordinary citizen.

Vice President Bawumia assured of government’s commitment to ICT education when he met the 2017 and 2018 batches of the Huawei Ghana Seeds for the Future Programme at the Jubilee House, Accra on Friday 18th May 2018.

Initiated in 2008, the Seeds for the Future Programme is Huawei’s most heavily invested global corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity. The programme was launched in Ghana in 2015 and 45 Ghanaian students have participated so far.

The programme seeks to develop local ICT talent, enhance knowledge transfer, promote a greater understanding of and interest in the ICT sector and improve, encourage regional building and participation in the digital community, according to officials of Huawei.

The 10 students of the 2018 batch will undergo a 2-week programme in Beijing and the high-tech manufacturing hub, Shenzhen where they will study cutting-edge information and telecommunication technologies at Huawei HQ Training Centre.

Huawei will share its ICT expertise and experience in managing a multinational corporation with the young ICT professionals and help fuel the development of local ICT industries.

Outlining some ongoing ICT-based reforms being undertaken by Government, including the implementation of a paperless system at the ports, a National Digital Property Addressing System, Mobile Money Interoperability Payment System, the soon-to-be-issued National ID Card and plans to digitise all land records, Vice President Bawumia said it was important to also train the human resource to fully implement the digitisation agenda.

Vice President Bawumia expressed Government’s appreciation to Huawei and called on other companies to emulate their example of offering training to Ghanaian youth, who will make up the workforce in a few years.

In brief remarks Hon Ursula Owusu-Ekuful (MP), Minister for Communications; H.E. Jiang Zhouteng, Acting Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Ghana; and Mr Tommy Zhou, Chief Executive Officer of Huawei Ghana, urged the students to take advantage of the opportunity to not only acquire knowledge in ICT, but also imbibe the qualities that have made China a force to reckon with.