by Joseph Ngwawi – SANF 07 No 3
Science, technology, climate change and football will top the agenda when African leaders meet in Ethiopia from 29-30 January for the African Union (AU) summit.
Strategies on how to turn the continent’s vast natural resources into an arsenal for development will dominate proceedings when African Heads of State and Government converge in Addis Ababa for the Eighth Ordinary Session of the AU.
Africa is one of the world’s richest regions in terms of natural resources, yet has seen little of the profits from their exploitation.
The continent is endowed with vast mineral wealth, great agricultural capacity and rich diversity of plants and animals.
Yet, due to instability in prices of these commodities, Africa will need to stimulate the manufacture of value-added products to compete in an increasingly technological market place.
Science and technology capacity in Africa varies greatly from country to country. A relatively small extra investment in some countries, such as South Africa, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya and Zimbabwe, which already have relatively sophisticated science and technology bases, could establish world-class facilities that can help pull up the region as a whole.
Challenges faced by the continent include reduced investment in research and development, the loss of researchers and scientists to developed countries, obsolescence and dilapidated infrastructure, and participation of women in science and technology issues.
Although no official statistics are available on the extent of the brain drain, it is estimated that millions of highly qualified Africans are living outside Africa, depriving the continent of vital skills, while sending home valuable revenue in significant quantities.
Students who are able to find employment abroad leave, while some of those trained abroad never return. Poor salaries and prospects in universities mean that trained scientists and engineers often move to the private sector or abroad.
Training curricula and science facilities in most African countries lag behind those in other parts of the world. It is common in Africa to see science classes with students taking turns to use a handful of microscopes and other instruments. In some cases students have to pay for essential materials themselves.
The AU Summit will also focus on how to mitigate the effects of climate change, which has influenced rainfall patterns in Africa over the last decades.
The past six agricultural seasons in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have been characterised by mostly dry periods interspersed by wet spells.
Flooding has caused considerable structural damage, destroying schools, telecommunications and roads in the SADC while in some places whole villages are flooded prompting the relocation of people and livestock to higher ground.
Another outcome of the Eighth Ordinary Summit of the AU will be the launch of 2007 as the International Year of African Football in recognition of the significant contribution that the continent has made to the development of the world’s most popular sport.
Past and present African football stars such as Liberia’s George Weah and Didier Drogba, of Cote d’Ivoire and English champions, Chelsea, have added to the excitement and development of soccer.
The decision to declare 2007 as the International Year of African Football comes three years before the continent hosts its maiden FIFA World Cup finals to be held in South Africa in 2010.
The African leaders are expected to use the Addis Ababa summit to put their weight behind the improvement of the competitiveness of teams from the continent as 2010 beckons.
The summit will be held under the themes “Science, Technology and Scientific Research”, and “Climate Change in Africa”.
