Jonathan: We have to dream that we’ll catch up with the rest of the world

Former President Goodluck Jonathan says Africa has to begin to dream it will catch up with the rest of the world on technological advancement.

Speaking at the 2017 roundtable of the African Presidential Leadership Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa, he said there is a need to recognise the most brilliant students and focus on building them to bring about the development of the continent.

Jonathan advised African governments and the private sector to invest more in education as a means of bringing about the “required economic advancement and repositioning”.

The programme, themed ‘Addressing Africa’s Educational Challenges in the 21st Century’ brought together seven former African presidents and business and political leaders on the continent.

“Africa does not only need to produce world-class scientists and engineers, but also needs to retain them on the continent,” he said.

“The truth is that God did not bless all of us equally with the same quality of brains. The distribution of the human brain is not uniform.

“In that case, for us to develop as nations and as a continent, we must devise ways of sorting out our best brains and encouraging them to fully develop themselves.

“The efforts and contributions of those few ones are enough to change society. Such brains can catapult Africa into the technological revolution age.

“If Africa must progress, a reasonable percentage of our best brains must go into education.

“If you look at the percentage of quality manpower that go into education in some countries you will realise that we still have a long way to go, because quality education drives development.

“For instance, research has shown that in countries with very good education profiles like Sweden, six out of the best ten brains will be retained to teach others while in a place like the United States about three out of their ten best brains will go into teaching.

“But in Africa, none out of its ten best graduates will remain in teaching. What this tells me is that Africa needs to realise that incentivising the education sector is key to its advancement.

“The mainstream education is there and we must continue to encourage it. But besides that, we should be able to deal with the question of how to nurture the brains that will technologically revolutionise Africa.

“We must retool our education curricula in line with the technological requirements of the 21st Century. We must produce technically competent people.”

Others in attendance include  Dramani Mahama, former Ghanaian President, Rupiah Banda, former Zambian President, Karl Offman, former President of Mauritius, Amani Abeid Karume, former prime minister of Zanzibar and Jakaya Kikwete and Frederick Sumaye, former Presidents of Tanzania.