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African Researchers hold Symposium on Africa’s Development

Published

2 years ago

September 8, 2022

African Researchers hold Symposium on Africa’s Development

A group of African researchers under the name Alafarika for Study and Consultancy had recently on August 26 and 27, 2022 organized a virtual symposium titled “Knowledge Creation and Dissemination in Africa”, which researchers in African affairs from Morocco, Nigeria, Mali, Mauritania, Egypt, and the Central African Republic participated to come up with model for African Development. The participants commended the initiative for giving great importance to knowledge, its creation and dissemination, and considering it an initial and basic building block for developing and progressing in Africa.

The two-day session which dealt with a series of issues related to influencing African policy and politics with knowledge, the process of knowledge management for development; the role of the media in creating knowledge societies; and the challenges facing academic publishing and its potential solutions. The symposium also touched on the relationship between philosophy and human development in the African context and how revolutions and movements demanding change can be directed based on the knowledge that provides answers to the state-building and development that the continent needs in the twenty-first century and the digital age, in addition to the potential of investigative and data journalism to contribute to Africa’s prosperity.

Talking about creating knowledge societies and influencing African politics, the speakers revealed that consultancy institutions are one of the means of influencing knowledge creation processes if these institutions are rooted in local issues and are experts in initiatives that touch the needs of the population and citizens. The speakers stressed that civilizations and advanced societies throughout history have depended on knowledge and actors in disseminating human sciences. Despite the lack of interest of some current African governments in knowledge, its means and tools for its dissemination, the history of Africa, its civilizations and kingdoms in different regions confirmed that Africa has rich experience in this regard. What is required today is to study these historical achievements and support the creativity of young people that may limit the brain drain in many African countries, in addition to attaching the utmost importance to educational institutions and their outputs.

They stressed that knowledge management is a necessary process for development because it relates to many sensitive areas and is an essential means of successful management and that it elevates knowledge to the forefront of any government or political system’s success by emphasizing the knowledge capabilities of individuals, universities, and research institutions that facilitate access to knowledge, participation in it, distribution, preservation, and retrieval.

Talking about the impact of globalization and the rapid technological change in human societies, the speakers make knowledge the basis of domination and influence. Stating that all indicators show the strength of tomorrow’s world will be determined by the interest in human capital and the exploitation of the energies and capabilities of the continent’s population in sustainable human development. In terms of knowledge management and development, they are of the belief that there is a need to move from theories to real-life applications to meet the challenges of the continent and the rapid transformations in all fields without neglecting data technologies, which collect and categorize information to enable users of knowledge systems and services to access them when necessary. Pointing that all of these can be achieved through interviews and dialogues with experts and actors in national development policies, humanities, and modern methods that reflect positively on African societies and enable African countries to compete globally.

African Media Institutions are tasked with the process of creating knowledge society at a time when global media ignore the role of Africans in crystallizing global knowledge and the information explosion, without overlooking the fact that digital media plays some of the roles of traditional media, influencing different African societies and stages. Media roles are however agreed not be limited to the use of various means to highlight developments and experiences in African countries, their civilizations and history or to publicize their tourism sectors. Taking the information revolution and technological innovations the continent’s youth seize today in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Egypt, and other African countries to develop the financial, agricultural, and health sectors into consideration, the relationship between the media and the dissemination of knowledge shows a relationship of mutual influence that can be observed in concepts related to human values, the crucible of communication and understanding.

Another means of developing and changing society is the process of scientific research and academic publishing. It was also agreed that one of the tools through which sustainable development can be achieved thereby addressing the challenges facing academic publishing in Africa and the weak governmental attention to the results of research projects and recommendations of conferences and research sessions that may contribute to promoting development.

While one of the crisis facing academic publishing in Africa is lack of publishing and distribution centres for works, academic books, and scientific journals within Africa, without forgetting that education curricula and teaching methods in several African countries are rooted in the colonial era and ideas that strengthen Western scientific institutions while weakening African scientific institutions that are already short of the necessary infrastructural resources.

Speakers in the “Knowledge Creation and Dissemination in Africa” symposium also pointed out that African philosophy can help us understand the problems facing the creation of knowledge and enhance the patterns of knowledge production that the continent needs. Furthermore, studying African history and philosophy may determine the African position towards modern science and contemporary issues, especially since knowledge based on African philosophical foundations may transform African societies into freer societies and can provide answers to the most important factors contributing to political, social, and economic inequality.

The COVID-19 crisis has shown the repercussions of the lack of independent and effective scientific research, sufficient scientific and technological resources, and the lack of manufacturing capabilities in the global south in general and Africa in particular. As a result, most African health care systems relied on the so-called “goodwill” of the global north and foreign vaccines.

The symposium also highlights that recent protests and political transformations in Africa indicated that most movements calling for change were not based on knowledge foundations that meet the state-building processes Africa needs in the twenty-first century. This is despite the fact that between 2005 and 2014, 40 out of 54 countries on the African continent witnessed widespread protests and uprisings in their various forms at the local and national levels. The knowledge equation lies in the repeated mistakes of these movements and that some of these uprisings often exacerbate the situation in the countries where they occur. Knowledge gaps can also be seen in the ideologies and parties that refuse to bring about the continent’s desired social and political changes.

In conclusion, the participants praised the role of investigative and data journalism in promoting African prosperity based on knowledge, as data and statistical information should contribute to achieving good governance and revealing corporate and institutional corruption and social injustice, in addition to presenting powerful and influential stories and revealing the truth. Thus, data is a mirror to confirm or deny a particular phenomenon or issue and a means of exploring its direction and foreseeing its future trend.

Related Topics:African Researchers Featured

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Business

Oil marketers counter Dangote

Published

17 hours ago

November 5, 2024

Sahara Weekly

Oil marketers counter Dangote over allegation of substandard product importation

The Depots and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) has countered the claim by Dangote Refinery that any oil importers landing petrol at a price cheaper than what the refinery is selling are importing substandard products and conniving with international traders to dump low quality products into Nigeria.

The refinery had made the claim on Sunday.

In a statement yesterday, DAPPMAN’s Executive Secretary, Olufemi Adewole, said none of its members was engaging in activities that could shortchange Nigerian fuel users by conniving with anyone to bring in low quality product into the country.

“We’ve said this for the umpteenth time, and it bears repeating, those in the downstream sector business of petroleum products trade are patriotic Nigerians who will not shortchange Nigerian citizens for filthy lucre. Our members are in this business to add value to the businesses of their fellow Nigerians and not to defraud them.

“Prices of products in the international market are dynamic as they’re dictated by prevailing circumstances at every given situation. We calculate our landing costs based on the dynamics of market forces, and the templates are always in the public domain. To claim that if the landing cost of imported product happens to be lower than that of the refinery indicates importation of low quality product is not only preposterous, but also fallacious. In any case, the management of the refinery has, until now, kept its cost and prices close to its chest and put it away from public scrutiny. “

“This type of submission, targeted at projecting our members negatively before the public, cannot help the management’s desire to have oil marketers patronise its products. What will ensure such patronage is transparency, fair play, and readiness to compete with others, including foreign refineries, on an even keel and on a level playing field.”

Adewole said the disclosure by the refinery’s management that the facility has a huge stock of 500 million litres fuel reserve came to its members as news.

“We were surprised because we believe that if the refinery has such huge stock, it’s the marketers that should be put in the know first.

‘Secondly, it was even more surprising given that the news came about the time the refinery was working on rationing what each marketer could pick from the refinery. If they had such huge stock, how is it then that they’re rationing what marketers could buy?

“On all these developments in the industry, the position of our members is very clear: we’ve always played by the rules, and we’ll continue to play by the rules. We’ll not be tired of advocating for a level playing field and a highly competitive and transparent sector that’s devoid of arm twisting and devoid of any form of dominant tendencies,” he said.

Similarly, the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) said it had concluded plans to import the best quality petroleum product and sell at far cheaper prices.

The association said it was awaiting the NMDPRA to grant it import licence, saying it “has successfully incorporated a strategic business unit called PETROL.”

Its spokesman, Joseph Obele, said PETROAN had concluded plans with her foreign refinery counterparts and financial partners to import the best quality of PMS and “then sell far less than the present selling rate of PMS in Nigeria.”

He said the allegations that PETROAN would import inferior products and that an international company was trying to establish a PMS blending plant in Lagos “are all strategies for Dangote Refinery to push others out of the market…”

Also, Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited, in a statement by its Chief Executive Officer, Bob Dickerman, denied blending substandard petroleum products.

Business

Why Protesters demanded Kyari’s resignation

Published

18 hours ago

November 5, 2024

Sahara Weekly

Why Protesters demanded Kyari’s resignation

Scores of youths stormed the headquarters of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited on Monday, demanding the immediate resignation of the Group Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mele Kyari.

The protesters, led by some Civil Society Organisations, described Kyari’s leadership as incompetent, citing skyrocketing fuel prices, endless fuel queues, and economic hardship in Nigeria.

The protesters carrying placards with different inscriptions such as “we demand the immediate resignation of Kyari”, among others, said the leadership of the NNPCL boss has failed.

The aggrieved youths led by Abdullahi Bilal of the (Two Million Man March Against Oil Scam Cabal) and Barrister Napoleon Otache and Olayemi Isaac from Citizens and Economic Freedom Rights Activists in Nigeria demanded immediate action to address what they described as failed leadership in managing the country’s oil sector.

Central to the protests were grievances over skyrocketing fuel prices and the never-ending queues, which they argued have driven inflation and plunged millions of Nigerians into poverty.

They also decried the importation of adulterated fuel, which they said is a corrupt practice that harms citizens by damaging vehicles and businesses.

They demanded an immediate halt to these imports and accountability for those responsible, questioning how substandard fuel continues to enter the country despite quality control assurances.

Additionally, the group criticized the unfulfilled promise of the Dangote refinery to resolve Nigeria’s fuel crisis, expressing frustration over the billions of dollars spent on refinery development and refurbishing existing facilities.

They argued that despite these investments, fuel shortages persist, leaving Nigeria reliant on costly imports even as an oil-producing nation.

They urged President Bola Tinubu to intervene by overhauling leadership in the oil sector, enforcing greater accountability, and putting citizens’ needs first. The protesters vowed to continue mobilizing until their demands for reform and transparency are met.

Speaking to journalists during the mass demonstration, Abdullahi Bilal said, “The Two Million Man March stands as a united voice for every citizen who has been betrayed by a system that continues to enrich a few at the expense of many.

“Today, we call for the immediate resignation of the current leadership in the country’s oil sector. Their management has failed Nigerians.

“Under their watch, we have seen fuel prices skyrocket without consultation or consideration of the devastating impact on the people. We have endured fuel scarcity while substandard, adulterated fuel is imported, causing further hardship.

“We demand the complete removal of the fraudulent fuel subsidy regime that has only served to enrich a select few. Full deregulation is necessary to introduce transparency, competition, and fairness to our oil sector.”

On their part, Otache and Isaac, insisted, “This act of economic sabotage has led to endless fuel queues, skyrocketing fuel prices, and unprecedented disruptions in the daily lives of Nigerians.

“We demand an immediate end to fuel queues, transparency, and accountability from all involved parties. We want to know how substandard fuel continues to enter the country despite assurances of quality control.”

On July 7, 2019, former President Mohammadu Buhari appointed Kyari as the 19th GMD of NNPC, but with the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act, his current portfolio is without recourse to previous employment ranks in the company.

NNPCL reacts

Reacting, the NNPCL spokesperson, Femi Soneye, said the protestors lack understanding of the sector.

He explained that contrary to their agitation, the GCEO ensured Nigerians had access to fuel at N620 per litre for over a year, even when the landing cost was above N1,100.

Responding via a chat, Soneye said, “Unfortunately, they lack understanding of the sector. If they were informed, they would know that the GCEO is not responsible for the fuel price increase; in fact, he ensured Nigerians had access to fuel at N620 per litre for over a year, even when the landing cost was above N1,100.”

Business

Renewed Hope Agenda and Impacts in Aviation* By Mary Odoma

Published

20 hours ago

November 5, 2024

Sahara Weekly

Renewed Hope Agenda and Impacts in Aviation

By Mary Odoma

President Bola Tinubu’s knack for selecting top talent is unparalleled. In his quest to build a prosperous Nigeria, he’s assembled an exceptional team. By leveraging their expertise, experience, and strategic insight, he’s fostering national stability, economic growth, and a sustainable future.

His latest win is in Aviation and Aerospace Development, where he’s appointed a fearless and straightforward leader, Festus Keyamo, SAN. Keyamo’s commitment to excellence makes him an ideal fit. President Tinubu’s vision for Nigeria is taking shape, and his leadership choices are truly commendable.

A dedicated, charismatic and impactful lawyer, the dynamic and astute developer is a terror to mischief makers and enemies of progress. A tough and forceful personality who is determined with an ultimate goal to change Nigeria.

Appointed on 21st August 2023 as the helmsman of the Ministry, Keyamo has been unwavering in his drive for positive transformation, reforming the sector and bringing about enduring positive impact in a transparent manner.

His Ministry has the core mandate of regulating air travel and aviation services in the country. It is also responsible for overseeing air transportation, air development, maintenance, provision of aviation infrastructural services and other needs.

A very patriotic Nigerian, Chief Festus has several achievements, in line with the Renewed Hope Aviation Roadmap approved by President Tinubu to his credit.

In a steadfast commitment towards revitalizing the nation’s aviation sector, Mr Keyamo was able to ensure the approval of the concession of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja and Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano Airports. This is in line with the initiation of the Nigerian Airport Concession Strategy.

Also, in line with the Federal Ministry of Aviation Roadmap, Chief Keyamo initiated the signing of an MoU with the Nile University for the take-off of African Aviation and Aerospace University (AU). This milestone achievement of the Minister aims to integrate and create an avenue for the training, research and development of ready middle-class manpower for the sector.

Equally, under his watch, the pragmatic leader led the Ministry into partnership with the ICRC and also a collaboration with the IFC on infrastructural development. This partnership is to both develop and implement a comprehensive and durable framework that will meet the infrastructural needs of the sector over a long period.

Through Keyamo’s congruence and dynamism, the BASA arrangement is another revolutionary innovation aimed at ensuring the operationalization of direct flights between Nigeria and Brazil.

Keyamo’s motivation and altruistic devotion to having a functional aviation and aerospace sector also moved him to upgrade the Muhammadu Buhari, Airport, Maiduguri to the standard of an international airport. This airport is ready to commence full operation on January 1, 2025

In the area of staff motivation, retirees of the Ministry now have no cause for alarm as their interest is covered. Recently, the Ministry honoured 24 retirees drawn from the lowest rung to the highest. It is in a bid to acknowledge those who have contributed immensely to the growth and development of the sector as Nation-builders.

His prompt response to issues including distress reveals an empathetic personality and someone who is very much alive to his responsibilities. Recently, while reacting to the accident involving a helicopter on the 24th October 2024, Mr Keyamo, immediately upon receiving the distress call, activated protocols aimed at search and rescue operations, mandating all relevant bodies to do everything humanly possible to ensure the safety of the passengers on board the ill-fated vehicle.

The Minister was also actively involved with all the relevant agencies towards ensuring a coordinated response. His active and physical involvement led to the minimization of casualties.

In a show of collaboration and solidarity, the Hon. Minister travelled to far away Marrakesh, Morrocco, to give support to the 2024 International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) congress. His presence was to underpin the importance the federal government attaches to the role of the transport workers in stabilizing the aviation sector.

Festus Keyamo as the Honourable Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development is certainly the best thing that has happened to the industry. He has exhibited passion, dedication and selfless forthrightness in the discharge of his duties and a total comprehension of what it takes to carry out his roles. He is well-groomed for the job and his background has helped him greatly towards shaping the positive impact he is making on society.

Today, Festus has proved that a faithful, disciplined, and dedicated Nigerian can stand out of the crowd because he symbolizes what governance is all about. These feats can only be achieved by a man with the right comportment and conduct in the service of humanity and the fatherland.

Deserving of note is that Chief Keyamo, through the foresight of President Tinubu has well-prepared team leaders appointed as heads of the agencies of the Ministry.

The supportive and collaborative roles of the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology, Nigeria Metrological Agency, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Nigeria Airspace Management, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, and the Nigeria Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), have brought about those tangible and noticeable volte-face experienced today in the Aviation sector.

With Keyamo at the helm, Nigeria’s aviation sector is experiencing a transformative shift, thanks to President Tinubu’s foresight in appointing well-prepared team leaders. The Nigeria College of Aviation Technology, Nigeria Metrological Agency, and others are working together to bring about tangible change. Keyamo’s dedication, discipline, and commitment to service have improved Nigeria’s image and reformed the aviation and aerospace sectors.

Odoma is the President of New Nigeria Network [NNN[ writing from Abuja.