Africa Needs To Prepare For Industry 4.0

Africa is forever, going to be a source of raw materials and cheap labour unless there is sustained political will to empower its population–the youth–with information and communication technology, says IT expert Damian Muswere

Most of Africa’s population is being left behind for good when it comes to embracing information technology, and such people can only be relevant as cheap labour in the not too distant future as Industry 4.0 takes over,” Muswere said in an interview with Leadership Magazine.

“The problem with Africa is poverty which alienates much of the population from gadgets such as computers and smart phones. The problem is worsened by the uncaring attitude of most African leaders whose priority seems to be the filling of their own pockets, and not the empowerment of their people. Unfortunately at the pace at which information technology is unfolding, most Africans are going to be left on the periphery of industrial development, and thus will be relevant only as cheap labour to be used where machines cannot be used.

“This also means that Africa will not be able to mine its own mineral resources and beneficiate them. Its resources will therefore continue to be mined by foreign companies, be processed outside Africa, thus creating jobs on foreign lands while Africa will continue to have the highest unemployment rate in the world,” Muswere said.

Muswere said for most of Africa, talking about business intelligence and office automation is jumping the gun as most of the population needs to be equipped with basic information technology literacy, starting with computer literacy and the ability to use smart phones. For this to succeed, the youth need to be empowered from school level by teaching them mathematics and science subjects so that they can be competent enough to study information technology at tertiary level, he said.