Friday, August 22, 2025
  • Who’sWho Africa AWARDS
  • About Time Africa Magazine
  • Contact Us
Time Africa Magazine
  • Home
  • Magazine
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • World News
    • US
    • UAE
    • Europe
    • UK
    • Israel-Hamas
    • Russia-Ukraine
  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Column
  • Interviews
  • Special Report
No Result
View All Result
Time Africa Magazine
  • Home
  • Magazine
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • World News
    • US
    • UAE
    • Europe
    • UK
    • Israel-Hamas
    • Russia-Ukraine
  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Column
  • Interviews
  • Special Report
No Result
View All Result
Time Africa Magazine
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • Magazine
  • World News

Home » Featured » Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice-President of Ghana: ‘Africa will be transformed by the potential of AI and data – if we can get investment’

Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice-President of Ghana: ‘Africa will be transformed by the potential of AI and data – if we can get investment’

As tech changes the world, Ghana has the young experts to unlock the next industrial revolution, says the vice-president

June 1, 2023
in Featured, Special Report
0
Mahamudu Bawumia is vice-president of Ghana and head of the government’s Economic Management Team.

Mahamudu Bawumia is vice-president of Ghana and head of the government’s Economic Management Team.

541
SHARES
4.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

As we see the artificial intelligence furore sweep across continents, one thing is clear: Africans have a goldmine at our fingertips. A rapidly growing population of 1.4 billion people, 70% under the age of 30, combined with huge growth in AI investments, creates a potent recipe for Africa. We will not sit back and wait for the rest of the world to reap our rewards.

Africa and the Middle East are set to see the fastest growth in AI spending worldwide, reaching $3bn (£2.4bn) this year and a predicted $6.4bn by 2026.

A person operating a large drone beside rows of tea plants
Agricultural drones are taking off in Africa. One project in Ghana helps cashew farmers detect pests and diseases before they seriously damage crops. Photograph: Patrick Meinhardt/AFP/Getty

Africa missed the first, second and third industrial revolutions, but I am determined that our continent will not miss the fourth and fifth.

The piece in the puzzle that will make this a reality is data, driven by highly skilled national tech expertise, and private-sector investments. For every dollar invested in data systems, there is an average return of $32. Data is the lifeblood for making decisions and is what will unlock an independent, wealthy future for Africa, making sure that new economic opportunities are shared.

Since Google opened its first Africa-based AI research centre in Accra in 2019, we have already seen progress in agriculture, healthcare, education and more.

ReadAlso

Africa loses over $580 billion annually to corruption — AfDB President

Mali’s junta arrests generals and French national over alleged coup plot

Farmers, in particular, are set to benefit. One project is helping Ghanaian cashew farmers use unmanned aerial vehicles in an AI-powered disease-detection innovation. The flying robots collect data from the leaves, stems and trunks of the cashew trees, allowing farmers to detect pest and disease symptoms before they become visible and lead to serious crop damage.

The initiative, funded by the German development agency GIZ, holds particular value because half of the world’s cashew nuts are grown in Africa.

ADVERTISEMENT

Another project uses AI to help smallholder farmers in Ghana predict post-harvest shortages and gluts. The technology aims to build better prediction models for crop yields that will give Ghana and the region far greater food security. Given the volatility of managing a smallholder farm, this project – run by the Ghanaian non-profit organisation AGRI-WEB – will help the farmers secure a more stable and sustainable income.

As the 33m smallholder farms in Africa contribute up to 70% of the food supply, the potentially transformative impact of this data-driven technology on livelihoods and food security across the region is vast.

During the pandemic, I saw first-hand how essential data is for us in shaping our decision-making. Through a project with the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, Vodafone Ghana and others, our scientists gathered anonymised mobile phone data from across Ghana’s districts. By looking at how the number of active users changed, we could see how effective lockdowns were in restricting people’s movement. This was vital in telling us when to lift and when to renew measures. Having in-country experts who collect and analyse data holds enormous potential for African decision-makers.

Two women sit working among plant pots in a nursery
Workers work on saplings at the Cashew Research Station in Wenchi. AI is helping small farmers in Ghana predict post-harvest shortages and gluts. Photograph: Thomas Imo/Photothek/Getty

With the growing numbers of young people being trained in data and AI in Ghana, we have a workforce ready to take on the tech revolution and drive progress and economic transformation across the continent. In 2021, Ghana’s Academic City University College in Accra became the first African higher education institution to launch a degree in artificial intelligence.

But we, and the world, cannot sit back and wait. We must stay focused on growing and nurturing this workforce of data experts. As the AI acceleration changes the nature of work, we must prepare a generation of young people to be at the forefront of the revolution, leading Africa into this new era.

This year’s global summits, from New Delhi to New York, provide a historic opportunity for a new way of doing development. In Ghana, we welcomed the Indian government’s commitment to making data for development a priority at this year’s G20 meeting.

A hand feels a yellow cocoa pod on a tree
A farmer inspects cocoa pods on a plantation in Ghana’s Western Region. Data and AI can help boost food security in Africa. Photograph: Muntaka Chasant/Shutterstock

But world leaders must show commitment to this agenda at the UN sustainable development goal summit in New York in September, focusing on funding, and building capacity development, skills and partnerships. Data is critical for Africa and the world to achieve the sustainable development goals. And yet decisions are still being made in the dark. For eight of the 17 goals, fewer than half of all countries have data to report.

There is no time to wait. I know that investing in private- and public-sector workforces and building joined-up data systems will unlock the potential opportunities that AI offers. This is what will break down the digital divide between countries and allow Ghana and our African neighbours to be in control of our own success.

It is critical that this revolution is driven by locally led solutions – and brains.

Mahamudu Bawumia is vice-president of Ghana and head of the government’s Economic Management Team.
Source: The Guardian
Via: Mahamudu Bawumia
Tags: AfricaAgricultureComputingDronesGhanaGlobal EducationMahamudu Bawumia
ADVERTISEMENT
Previous Post

Zimbabwe outlaws criticism of government before August elections

Next Post

Exclusive interview with General DeAnna M. Burt, Chief Operations Officer, United States Space Force

You MayAlso Like

News

When Truth Fights Back: A Rebuttal to the False Allegations Against Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi Uku

August 21, 2025
Special Report

Brutalized female NYSC in Anambra —Dismissals make headlines. Convictions make justice

August 20, 2025
Special Report

How Wike Secretly Bought $2Million U.S. Mansion In Wife, Children’s Names

August 20, 2025
Special Report

The Fall of Mele Kyari: From Oil Chief to Fraud Suspect

August 20, 2025
A doctor checks the mid-upper arm circumference of two-year-old Modu Baba, who is malnourished
Special Report

Hundreds of thousands of children ‘facing starvation’ as last Nigeria aid points set to close

August 20, 2025
Special Report

Stripped, Beaten, Accused: NYSC Corps Members Brutalized by Anambra Vigilantes

August 19, 2025
Next Post
General DeAnna M. Burt, Lieutenant, United States Space Force

Exclusive interview with General DeAnna M. Burt, Chief Operations Officer, United States Space Force

Admiral Linda L. Fagan, Commandant of the United States Coast Guard

An Expansive Interview with Admiral Linda L. Fagan, Commandant, United States Coast Guard

Discussion about this post

Ibom Air: My side of the story, by Comfort Emmanson

Brutalized female NYSC in Anambra —Dismissals make headlines. Convictions make justice

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT: The Resumed Impunity Of Violent And Unlawful Dispossession of Agidiasie People’s Ancestral Land Inheritance and Farmlands Under the Custodian of the Iyase Of Ogwashi-uku Kingdom By “HRH” Ifechkwude Okonjo

Stripped, Beaten, Accused: NYSC Corps Members Brutalized by Anambra Vigilantes

The Unexplained Professorship of Stella Ngozi Lemchi, Vice-Chancellor of Alvan Ikoku Federal University

Adaora Umeoji Means Business

  • British government apologizes to Peter Obi, as hired impostors, master manipulators on rampage abroad

    1240 shares
    Share 496 Tweet 310
  • Maids trafficked and sold to wealthy Saudis on black market

    1066 shares
    Share 426 Tweet 267
  • Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

    971 shares
    Share 388 Tweet 243
  • ‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

    903 shares
    Share 361 Tweet 226
  • Crisis echoes, fears grow in Amechi Awkunanaw in Enugu State

    735 shares
    Share 294 Tweet 184
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest

British government apologizes to Peter Obi, as hired impostors, master manipulators on rampage abroad

April 13, 2023

Maids trafficked and sold to wealthy Saudis on black market

December 27, 2022
Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

September 22, 2023
‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

March 21, 2023
Chief Mrs Ebelechukwu, wife of Willie Obiano, former governor of Anambra state

NIGERIA: No, wife of Biafran warlord, Bianca Ojukwu lied – Ebele Obiano:

0

SOUTH AFRICA: TO LEAVE OR NOT TO LEAVE?

0
kelechi iheanacho

TOP SCORER: IHEANACHA

0
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan

WHAT CAN’TBE TAKEN AWAY FROM JONATHAN

0

Enugu Ministry of Science and Tech Commences e-Government Capacity Building

August 22, 2025

Snake species found capable of injecting venom even after death – with no loss of potency

August 22, 2025

NYSC Speaks On Assaulted Female Corps Member in Anambra

August 21, 2025
Judges are pictured in the courtroom during the trial of Bosco Ntaganda. Bas Czerwinski/Reuters

Trump expands sanctions against ICC over Israel, U.S. investigations

August 22, 2025

ABOUT US

Time Africa Magazine

TIME AFRICA MAGAZINE is an African Magazine with a culture of excellence; a magazine without peer. Nearly a third of its readers hold advanced degrees and include novelists, … READ MORE >>

SECTIONS

  • Aviation
  • Column
  • Crime
  • Europe
  • Featured
  • Gallery
  • Health
  • Interviews
  • Israel-Hamas
  • Lifestyle
  • Magazine
  • Middle-East
  • News
  • Politics
  • Press Release
  • Russia-Ukraine
  • Science
  • Special Report
  • Sports
  • TV/Radio
  • UAE
  • UK
  • US
  • World News

Useful Links

  • AllAfrica
  • Channel Africa
  • El Khabar
  • The Guardian
  • Cairo Live
  • Le Republicain
  • Magazine: 9771144975608
  • Subscribe to TIME AFRICA biweekly news magazine

    Enjoy handpicked stories from around African continent,
    delivered anywhere in the world

    Subscribe

    • About Time Africa Magazine
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • WHO’SWHO AWARDS

    © 2025 Time Africa Magazine - All Right Reserved. Time Africa is a trademark of Times Associates, registered in the U.S, & Nigeria. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service.

    No Result
    View All Result
    • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
    • Politics
    • Column
    • Interviews
    • Gallery
    • Lifestyle
    • Special Report
    • Sports
    • TV/Radio
    • Aviation
    • Health
    • Science
    • World News

    © 2025 Time Africa Magazine - All Right Reserved. Time Africa is a trademark of Times Associates, registered in the U.S, & Nigeria. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service.

    This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.