Tarkwa (W/R), Feb. 13, GNA-The University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) and the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) have organized a distinguished speaker series on industrialization.
The event was to honour Africa’s first-ever Professor Extraordinaire for Supply and Value Chain Management and Chairperson of MIIF, Professor Douglas Boateng.
In his presentation on “Supply Chain Management, Africa’s Industrialization, Long-term Socio-Economic Development and Stability: The Inextricable Link”, Professor Boateng, explained that while, industrialization, enterprise and SMME Developmental efforts were improving in Ghana, they could be significantly accelerated through procurement and supply chain management.
He stated that supply chain management sourcing policies and behaviours had a direct impact on industrialization as well as national and regional wide development.
According to Professor Boateng, short-term thinking and sourcing behaviours have, however, increasingly led to the further de-industrialization of the entire continent.
He, therefore, stressed the importance of proactive planning and mindset change for long-term local and regional wide industrialization, adding that, “value addition is achieved through manufacturing and other advanced innovative technical means.”
He entreated policymakers to know and understand their supply chain network and the impact of their actions on government structures, public-owned entities, the private sector and people within society at large.
Prof Boateng emphasized that “we have so much yet, the people have so little to show for. In the 1960s Dr Kwame Nkrumah was thinking of Industrialization. Hence, he created the likes of Ghana Industrial Holding Corporation (GIHOC) to help with local value addition. Sadly, virtually all the subsidiaries of GIHOC have collapsed.”
“President Akufo Addo’s 1D1F programme is an innovative and forward-thinking supply chain management and industrialization agenda to help with local value addition to our incredible resources, job creation, especially for the youth, and creative mobilization of national revenue for infrastructure development,” Professor Boateng indicated.
He expressed gratitude to UMaT and MIIF for the lecture and promised to continue with the national awareness campaign.
Acknowledging the importance of academic and industrial partnerships, Professor Richard Kwasi Amankwah, the Vice chancellor of UMaT said, “without question, industrialization and local value addition is the way forward for Ghana.”.
He said, “We at UMaT intend to help build world-class human capital in support of our novel beyond aid agenda. We appreciate the support from MIIF and the company’s determination to help transform the mineral and exploration sector for the benefit of Ghanaians.”
The Chief Executive Officer of MIIF, Mr Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng, on his part, said, “without sectoral industrialization, our hopes of becoming self-sufficient will remain a pipe dream.To achieve this we need the right human capital, hence the academic and industrial partnership between UMAT and MIIF.”
