Browsing: industrialization

ECOWAS holds meeting on regional development

The main goal of ECOWAS is to promote economic cooperation among member states in order to raise living standards and promote economic development. ECOWAS has also worked to address some security issues by developing a peacekeeping force for conflicts in the region.

Thus Members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Joint Committee on Political Affairs, Peace, Security and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Telecommunications and Information Technology are meeting in Ghana to brainstorm the role of telecommunication in achieving regional development.

The meeting which is underway in Winneba Ghana kicked off on 27th this month and will climax on the 31st of July under the theme “The role of telecommunications and information technology (TIT) in achieving regional development.”

Delegates at the Meeting are discussing several issues ranging from the influence of TIT on elections in member states, regional roaming issues:…

Future building construction engineering project concept with double exposure graphic design. Building engineer, architect people or construction worker working with modern civil equipment technology. - The Exchange (www.theexchange.africa)

African countries cannot leapfrog their way into industrialization. Yes, there was a telecommunications jump largely bypassing landlines to mobile phones in the early 2000s, but internet penetration is still low at 36%. Other sectors of many African economies are stagnating. For instance, electricity is a foundational requirement for industry, manufacturing enterprises, for doing business, for running hospitals, schools, and for improving the quality of life at home. Yet over 600 million Africans still lack access to reliable and affordable electricity. This further depresses business productivity and generating their own power increases the operating expenses of companies. More broadly, the objectives of the landmark African Continental Free Trade Area to boost intra-African trade are severely hampered by the limited transportation options to facilitate the affordable and efficient movement of people, goods, and services from one country to another. The lack of adequate water and sanitation presents overwhelming and adverse health …