Africa must embrace technological advancement to develop – PLO Lumumba

By Peter Ochieng

Lawyer Patrick Loch Otieno (PL0) Lumumba has challenged Africans to embrace technological advancements, in a bid to spur development across the continent.

Speaking at the Africa Talent Campus in Kisumu on Saturday during the official launch of the collaboration agreement between Gates Africa Education Group and Management University of Africa (MUA), the famed advocate said Africa may be lagging behind because of not consuming the relevant technology.

“If Africa today is lagging behind, it is because she is not consuming the technology that she ought to consume,” he said.

“If indeed we lost out on the first industrial revolution, we lost out on the second industrial revolution; in fact, sometimes I hold the view that we have not even gone through the aggregation revolution. If you look at how we till our land, it is the same way Adam and Eve did,” he added, throwing his audience into a hearty laughter.

Lumumba said it baffles him that with all the technological advancements in the world today, residents of Nyando in Kisumu have to leave their homes every time there is flooding in the area.

Washington Okeyo, MUA Vice Chancellor echoed his sentiments adding that academic programs must be tailor made to run in tandem with technological changes.

“The world is changing very fast. The only constant thing in the world today is change. If you can’t change, change will change you,” noted the VC.

Everyone in his or her small way, he added, can use technology to benefit society, the country and the world at large.

Professor Humphrey Oborah, Gates Head of Missions said the country must now adopt talent-based training and learning, which allows graduates to create new opportunities not only for themselves, but also for others.

“We need a learning diagnosis. The capacity of a human to succeed rests on you knowing their strengths,” he stressed.

“There is no need to invest in what you don’t know. Match the finance with what the person is naturally able to do,” added Prof. Oborah.

He said the Africa Talent University is collaborating with various institutions around the country and the globe, revealing that they are currently working on a program to address the issue of Nyando flooding, once and for all.

The partnership between African Talent Campus and MUA seeks to package talents into booming businesses.