Cape Coast: African Researchers Conference Opens

Delivering a lecture on the theme, Professor Bashir Garba, Secretary to the Sokoto State, Nigeria, said the Governments must, therefore, provide policy guidelines and strategies for research that were sustainable to make applied research an engine of growth in every aspect of development.

The fifth Applied Research Conference in Africa (ARCA)Prof Garba said globalisation was creating considerable opportunities and challenges and its impact on national economies were driven by significant progress in Applied Research and development initiatives.

The three-day conference, aimed at providing a platform for capacity building and networking among researchers in Africa, is on the theme: “Achieving Sustainable Development Goals through Applied Research”.

The conference is being organised by the African Applied Researchers Association in collaboration with the Cape Coast Polytechnic and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

It is being attended by researchers from countries from Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia and Tanzania.

He explained that applied researches were globally recognised as crucial in socio-economic development and for better well-being such that nations where applied research were given top priority were making waves in all sectors of the economy.

The wealth, influence and power in the world political scene of any country, he said, depended largely in its capacity and capability to utilise its applied research results for socio-economic benefits.

African countries could not prosper in an increasingly competitive global economy and open trading system if it did not fund and conduct applied researches to produce more value –added goods and services, he stated.

“Since the provision of most goods and services depends largely on effective utilisation of the products of applied research, the plain truth is that unless we are able to improve upon our capacity, and utilisation of applied research results, our hopes for industralisation ,technical and sustainable development are likely to remain just that hopes,” he said.

“I can confidently say that Applied Research is the only dividing line between developed and developing nations,” Prof. Garba declared.

He said many African nations from independence to date had shown little improvement in industralisation due to poor energy supply.

Professor Emmanuel Mjema, the Rector of the College of Business Education, Tanzania, said Africa must take advantage of the universality of the agenda 2030 to create partnerships across the globe and ensure effective implementation.

He was addressing the topic: “Strengthening the Means of Implementing and Revitalising the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development through Applied Research.”

He said the successful implementation of goal 17 of the SDGs was dependent on a comprehensive funding framework that goes beyond official development assistance commitments but a global partnership.

He said applied research would help get the appropriate data to address the poverty gravity, revitalise the global partnership for development, promote development and implement effective and targeted capacity building in developing countries.

Dr. Emmanuel Kwesi Aning, a Research fellow at the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping and Training Centre, urged African Governments to be committed by putting much investment into research.

He said research was about advancing knowledge, strengthening relationships between industries and government and urged the researchers to go beyond doing research for publications to get promotions but ensure that the researches they conducted reformed policies and impacted lives.

A total of 70 peer review scientific research papers relating to Engineering, Built Environment, Hospitality and Tourism, Food Science, Oil, Gas and Energy, Medicine, Statistical Modeling, Information and Communication Technology, Applied Sciences and Arts, Business, Social Sciences and Humanities would be presented at the conference.