Innovation as a culture for development

The 23rd Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (which met from 24-27 June, 2014 in Malabo, capital of Equatorial Guinea), directed for the ‘’enhancement’’ of the ‘’Pan-African Productivity Association’’ so that it can become a regional ‘’think-tank, catalyser, research, and knowledge development on productivity at the continental level’’.  The assembly […]

The 23rd Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (which met from 24-27 June, 2014 in Malabo, capital of Equatorial Guinea), directed for the ‘’enhancement’’ of the ‘’Pan-African Productivity Association’’ so that it can become a regional ‘’think-tank, catalyser, research, and knowledge development on productivity at the continental level’’.  The assembly also ‘’adopted’’ a body known as ‘’Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa -2024 (STSA-24)’’. It is to serve as a ‘’continental framework’’ on the back of which Africa will ride onto a condition of ‘’innovation-led knowledge-based economy’’ as the continent prosecutes the road to ‘’Africa 2063’’.
The assembly also ‘’considered’’ a new charter labelled the “Statute of the African Observatory on Science, Technology and Innovation’’. Prior to the Malabo Summit, the tiny state of Cape Verde – whose president remains the latest winner of the Mo Ibrahim Prize for good leadership by a former African head of state and government – hosted a conference on innovation by Africans. There was much focus on the use of information technology to fuel creativity that will lead to inventions.
As far back as 2007 Africans in the Diaspora and those working within international institutions working on  development on a global canvass established a pan-African institution which would correct the severe shortage of scientists working in the fields of material science, advanced computerisation, gas and oil processing and climate change. They established the Nelson Mandela Institution to run post-graduate degree programmes on campuses based in Burkina Faso, Tanzania, South Africa and Nigeria. Although the campus in Tanzania was to start the programme, a combination of quick access to funds and drive by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala snatched the head-start by the campus in Abuja. Her work at the World Bank found a corner for incubating the new concept under funding wings of the World Ban Institute.
The Nelson Mandela Institution also benefited from President Thabo Mbeki’s intellectual animation by a vision of Africa’s renaissance; the resurrection of a continent and her peoples. The agency’s commitment to training scientists with ‘’ability and passion to work wisely and creatively’’ became linked with the ‘’betterment of humankind’’ in Africa.
At a pragmatic level, Africans in the Diaspora had noted that while advanced economies owned 1102 specialised scientists for every one million of their population, Africa owned only 83. In Asia (without counting Japan) owned 783 scientists. Any talk of Africa’s industrial and technological growth would be exercises  in hallucination if Africa continued to produce more lawyers; religious teachers, retail traders; preachers; accountants while lacking skilled technologists and scientists to discover the ‘’innovations needed to unlock economic growth’’.
A climate of ideas has been churning up winds of change leading to calls for ‘’innovation’’. The Africans in the Diaspora met foreign cultures in which ‘’entrepreneurial flare’’ was highly valued and flourished. Those in institutions like the World Bank knew from raw experience how bureaucrats often drag their feet or kill new ideas and programmes; often in the quest for bribes. Some reports indicate that 80 per cent of corruption in Africa is by civil servants. Not surprisingly, they insisted on autonomy and transparency in running the Nelson Mandela Institution; while still being supported by Africa’s governments.
The Malabo Summit of the African Union has openly embraced a drive for ‘’accelerating Africa’s transition to an INNOVATION-led knowledge-based economy’’. This is a revolutionary break with a colonial culture of education which excluded Africans from visioning social engineering because they were only wanted as clerks, dispensary assistants, primary school teachers and catechists.  Religious and classroom traditions of learning from texts or notes dictated by teachers are less enchanting than narratives told by griots, charismatic preachers, and fables by grandmothers. Transition has been minimal from rote learning to inventing new mechanical solutions to Nigerian women pounding yam or groundnuts; Kenya’s women climbing hills with luggage on their backs held by ropes across the forehead; Wolof women in Senegal grinding millet cereals on stones, etc.
We once visited a park in Copenhagen, capital of Denmark, dedicated to training inventiveness. Youths were exposed to challenges whose solutions demanded climbing hills inside brains. One that my Brazilian and Indian friends struggled with was 15 poles of wood planted on flat ground. We could not figure out their collective link to teaching creativity. We had obviously grown up without taking part in children’s games or playing with toys that taught similar mental gymnastics.
Several American cities organise ‘’Science Olympics’’ in which youth inventors expose their innovations. As I write this, CNN has just called for nominations for their ‘’European Inventor Award’’. The Agha Khan Foundation gives out huge sums of money as prizes for the extraordinarily creative Islamic architectural designs. The African Union has urged member states to support local ‘’Pan-African Productivity Association’’ units. The Heads of States and governments would do well to support drives to dredge out cripplers of creativity in their education systems