VP Taylor: Investing in Innovative technology key to Africa’s growth

Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor has identified innovative technological gap as one of the challenges facing development on the African continent.

Addressing hundreds of women delegates Friday April 21, 2018, when she served as keynote speaker at this year’s Inaugural African Women Summit for Peace and Development in Abuja, Mrs. Howard Taylor said for Africa to be on par with the rest of the world its people need knowledge and information on innovative technologies.

She cited Education as one of the areas through which Africans can create innovative learning platforms for the children, youth and people of all ages to understand, learn and enjoy themselves.According to a dispatch from Abuja, Nigeria, VP-Howard-Taylor said technology does not only give access but its usage talso makes learning easier.

‘‘A child in OYO can interact with one in Osaka and work out common solutions to global problems. A teacher is Sydney can use his virtual classroom to teach students in Timbuktu the value of cultural heritage sites. A buyer in HONG KONG can help a farmer in KUMASI to solve a bug infestation problem which if not resolved will lower his profits. And where a manufacturer in Liberia can show his products on line and get buyers to purchase them at the right price within seconds,’’ VP Howard-Taylor narrated her keynote address at the two days summit.

Vice president Taylor also identified Health, Business, Agriculture and Governance as other crucial areas that can be explored through innovative technology to solve Africa’s development challenges.

The summit organized by the Coalition of Wives of presidents and Vice presidents in Africa-COWAP, is a project which aims to harness the enormous capacity and goodwill of both sitting and past wives of Presidents and Vice Presidents in Africa towards the sustainable development goals in four thematic areas including peace and Justice, girl child education, ending extreme hunger and poverty.
It seeks to engage past wives of Presidents and Vice Presidents in Africa as goodwill Ambassador for Africa’s Development, create a platform to engage with experts, academia policy makers, development practitioners and civil society on the role technology can play in driving development forward.

The summit was held under the theme, ‘Using Innovative Technology to solve Africa’s Development Challenges’.