Why Africa can’t solve unemployment

In Ghana and many parts of the world, the effect and impact of technology were very minimal probably within the 19th and 20th centuries. Hence we saw the importance of academic qualifications of the human capital. Communication was quite complex with little or no access to phones, laptops, and internet as we have today. Some time ago, these were elements of only the rich and the affluent in society.

Today, technology has become somehow affordable and easily accessible globally. Many of us relied on letter writing, the postman or post offices to deliver our parcels or information to loved ones or business associates far and near. This old-fashioned method of information dissemination is slow, and the risk of postman not been trustworthy and efficacious is a concern. Since the advent of information technology and the internet, the speed of information exchange to and from loved ones cannot be overemphasized.

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Now, how many people even rely on posting letters via the postman today? You would be considered outmoded and ineffective, and that is how the postmen or post offices lost their value to us today. Let’s even assume the postman had a doctorate in his discipline of delivering letters effectively and faster, do you think he can be fast enough to beat technology in time and space?

It has become more evident that the problem with Africa, more emphatically Ghana’s unemployment, is not just access to free education for people to obtain certificates from academic institutions to be employed. Who even made that analogy of employment being an extension of education? Our inability to train the African generation to suit emerging technology and be in line with the Sustainable Development Goals has prevented the African from competing globally in the job market as they have little or no skill. The era of the academic qualifications for jobs is over as there has been conscious effort to minimise human transactions to reduce human errors, ineffectiveness, and corruption. In some few years to come, general elections to be held in many parts of the world shall be conducted electronically with little or no human intervention. This will help prevent elections fraught with violence, corruption, and vote rigging. People will only have to stay within the confines of their home and vote with the result announced in no distant time.

China today is the second largest economy in the world and leading hub in technology. This achievement is not only attributed to free accessible education but because the human capital has been trained to catch up with technology. In short, they have the skill. My suggestion is to tackle the educational system strategically by providing an enabling environment for technological advancement and education in line with the U.N. SDGs

By Allen Tetteh Daniels

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