“We Will Create Assets For Ghana From Oil Revenues” – President Akufo-Addo
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa
Akufo-Addo, says his government is going to use oil revenues to create
assets for the country, and not waste it on consumption.
According to President Akufo-Addo, as a relatively
new entrant in the league of oil-producing countries, Ghana is not going
to treat her oil like she has done with gold, and allow it to be
exported in its raw material form as crude.
Ghana’s oil, President Akufo-Addo explained, presents
the country with the perfect opportunity to transform the structure of
Ghanaian economy through industrialization and value-added commercial
activities.
“Our oilfields provide us with the perfect
opportunity to create a petrochemical industry in Ghana. We have begun
the processes leading to the setting up of a gas feedstock industrial
estate in the Western Region of the country,” he said.
The President indicated further that “we intend to
convert our petrochemicals into hundreds of industrial and consumer
products produced in Ghana, including plastics, paints, rubber,
fertilizers, detergents, dyes, textiles, solvents and, hopefully,
bitumen for road construction.”
President Akufo-Addo was convinced that from the
petroleum, the country can get the preservatives to can food produced in
Ghana, with the synthetic by-product from petroleum serving as raw
material for the manufacturing of different types of garments and
footwear.
The President made this known on Saturday, 12th May,
2018, when he delivered a speech at the London Business School’s Africa
Summit, on the theme “Scaling for Impact – the Important role of
Industrialisation.”
In his remarks, the President indicated that unless
Ghana industrialises with the goal of adding value to her primary
products, the country cannot create the necessary numbers of good-paying
jobs that will enhance the living standards of the mass of the Ghanaian
people.
“Raw material producing economies do not create
prosperity for the masses. The way to that goal, the goal of ensuring
access to prosperity, is value addition activities in a transformed and a
diversified modern economy, with a modernised agriculture. In other
words, the industrial development of our economy, which takes on board
the aid of digital technology,” he added.
Importance of Education
Industrialization, the President said, can only be
successful with a workforce that is equipped and skilled, and can
compete effectively on the global market.
Any country that aims to transform itself into a
modern productive player in the global marketplace must get its
educational policies right, adding that the countries that have made
rapid progress around the world put education at the heart of their
development.
Citing the example of the United States of America’s
transitioning to publicly funded high school education in the
mid-19th century, President Akufo-Addo stated that the experiment paid
off, and America set herself up for 20th century success, creating a
workforce fit for rapid economic development, which has inspired the
emergence of the most powerful economy so far known to human history.
“Indeed, other nations, who began their lives as
independent states at the same time as we did, like Singapore, Malaysia
and Korea, have emulated a similar model, and have also achieved great
economic success. In fact, in their case, they followed Japan’s
excellent example,” he said.
Through the policy of Free Senior High School
education introduced in September 2017, President Akufo-Addo told the
gathering that 90,000 more students gained access to Senior High School
in 2017, than they did in 2016.
“We are of the firm conviction, also, that we shall
be able to transform Ghana’s economy and reduce unemployment, when we
pay attention to technical and vocational training. That is where the
skills needed for the modern economy can be developed,” the President
added.
Ghana, President Akufo-Addo stated, has the
opportunity to become a regional centre for light manufacturing for a
market of some 350 million people in the ECOWAS Community, projected to
reach 500 million by 2030, “by weaving together our numerous natural
resources, like food produce, bauxite, iron ore, oil and gas, with our
talents and energy, to turn our nation into an economic powerhouse in
West Africa, generating full employment for our teeming youth.”
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