President Hakainde Hichilema says Africa has acknowledged that digitisation is critical to answering the continent’s quest of accelerating economic and social development.
Mr Hichilema said that top on the agenda is that Africa wants to digitise because it wants to use digital technology, research and development to accelerate growth.
Speaking during the official opening of the Digital Government Africa 2024 summit, held under the theme: Building Resilience and Secure Digital Governments for Sustainable Development, Mr Hichilema said the digital sector will help Africa drive the various sectors that contribute to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
ZANIS reports that President Hichilema urged the summit to take into account the context of accelerating growth through digitisation as they deliberate.
“We expect you to help us, to help the African population to grow our economies so that we can take care of the larger part of our population, especially the youth population, so as to mitigate some behaviours such as illegal migration,” he said.
President Hichilema said digitisation must also be used to enhance the agricultural sector as well as trade across Africa.
“In Africa, we least trade with each other, we need a revolution in that direction,” he added.
The Head of State challenged the gathering to make change which does not hinder progress.
President Hichilema however noted that there are risks that come with digitisation such as misinformation and implored the gathering to discuss that digital platforms must not be abused to harm people but used for more positive aspects.
“Checklist areas that you think that governments are holding the digitisation agenda back, checklist those areas for policy, legislative and regulatory issues so as to achieve compatibility much quicker as we work on platforms and investments to upgrade,” he said.
And SMART Zambia National Coordinator Percy Chinyama said the objective of the DGA 2024 was to bring together leadership that can sit and collaborate, learn from one another as well as bring industry giants to offer technology that can be a solution to challenges that Africa is grappling with.
Speaking at the same event, Senior Vice President and Group Head for Visa Inc. Africa Aida Diara said technology today is evolving at a phenomenal pace adding that if governments and businesses embrace technology, it leads to phenomenal results.
Ms Diara noted that the first priority is to build collaboration between the private sector and governments.
“We continue to be optimistic about the potential of the continent,” she added.
Nigerian Senator Garba Maidoki said Africa has an opportunity to have a technological revolution through the young people who can invest their intellectual capacity to bring in the much needed income.
Mr Maidoki said the technological revolution starts with good laws and strong judicial systems that are respected by governments and those investing in governments.
“Nigeria has 250 Fintech companies. This has contributed more to Nigeria’s GDP than the oil sector. ICT has contributed 2.5 million jobs in Nigeria and has added $500 million to our GDP,” he said.
Meanwhile, Minister of Technology and Science Felix Mutati in his vote of thanks said the government’s mission is to focus on policy and legal reform to create appropriate incentives and tax concessions that has delivered significant investment in digital infrastructure in the last three years.
Mr Mutati disclosed that under partnership and collaboration, Zambia with the aid of Sweden has developed the Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy.
“With Google, we are now working to deliver a centre of excellence in emerging technologies including AI which will be housed here in Zambia,” he added.
He further disclosed that working with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) , Zambia is going to deliver a Mine-Tech hub that will be accessed by Africa to create solutions in the mining sector.
