Staff Reporter
Distinguished academic and renowned legal practitioner Professor Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba from Kenya has challenged institutions of higher learning in Africa to take the lead in developing technology that could help solve problems faced by the world today and not always wait for solutions to come from overseas.
He says African universities should stop playing catch-up with Europe, America and China and effectively take part in developing useful technology.
Lumumba said this during a virtual public lecture hosted by the Central University of Technology (CUT) in Bloemfontein.
The lecture, which was also beamed to Botswana and Kenya, was one of the events organised by the CUT to commemorate Africa Day.
“It annoys me and irritates me at once, that Africa still remains a consumer of basic technology while we have universities which should be developing it,” said Lumumba, who was speaking from Nairobi, Kenya.
The theme of the lecture was “The role of higher education in creating conducive conditions for African development”.
“We are in the midst of a crisis, the crisis of COVID-19 that has seen Africa go into lockdown right from Cape Town . . . through to Cairo in Egypt. There is a sense in which this crisis is giving birth to a number of things,” Lumumba said.
“In this crisis, Africa’s underbelly has been exposed in a number of areas. In the area of health, we have been made to remind ourselves that, notwithstanding the decision of African heads of state in Abuja (Nigeria) several years ago to dedicate 15 percent of their national budgets to health, that has not happened, with the consequence that we have seen our health facilities are below par.”
Lumumba said at another meeting in Maputo, Mozambique, African leaders agreed to dedicate 15 percent of their national budgets to agriculture but, sadly, Africa cannot feed herself today.
He said this has also demonstrated that many African governments have not taken science, research and development as key components of development with the net effect that most countries rely on others for support, even in the provision of things as small as masks.
“Today we are in a continent which continues to underperform and to underachieve in all critical areas. When we talk about development we must understand development in its broadest sense,” Lumumba said.
He said African countries should stop working in silos but work together and share ideas like most developed countries.
According to Lumumba, it is therefore important for Africans to ask themselves how they can use education as a platform to realise what they need.
“African countries are weak . . . because they are divided. And they are divided because it is in the interests of a number of powers that Africa remains weak,” he said.
“So, will higher education help Africa address its perennial problems which we have stated and stated for times without a number?
“Will it help us address the problem of the disease burden . . . and create opportunities for the youth?”
Lumumba said given that most African countries claim that agriculture is the backbone of their economies, it legitimises the assertion that agriculture must be mechanised.
But, sadly, this is not happening as fast as it should.
“The African continent must be present in science . . . technology, engineering and in mathematics not as a consumer, but as a participant in innovation,” Lumumba said.
He bemoaned the failure by Africa to come up with communication and transport apps, among others, to ease the way of doing business given the limitations to movement as a result of the coronavirus.
“How is it that today we are meeting via these methods . . . If it is not Zoom, it is Blue Jeans, if not . . . it is Skype. But all these are from outside the continent of Africa. Is there not a university in Africa that can come up with a medium that we can use?” Lumumba asked.
“We are using Google gleefully. We are buying through Amazon gleefully. Is there not a student or students of science who can ensure that we are also present in that area?
“How can it be that we have institutions of higher learning, but when I am e-hailing a cab in Nairobi I use Uber with somebody sitting in the United States and does not own a car here? Is there not a student… in Africa who can come up with an app?”