By James Kunda
LUSAKA, Zambia (AA) - Zambia's President Hakainde Hichilema on Thursday urged African states to use technology in combatting common challenges on the continent, including illegal migration and climate change.
Officially opening the second annual Digital Government Africa Summit in the capital Lusaka, Hichilema said leveraging technology would also help the continent trade more within itself. However, he also cautioned that abuse of technology had the potential to destabilize continental peace and security.
"So we leave it up to the experts to help us in how we can make technology deliver the development needed for our people on this continent; the greater population out there and I mean the youth. We are grappling with illegal migration, 'the boat people' as they are called. Today in Southern Africa, we have the worst drought in living memory but only two hours away in East Africa; we have floods: both a threat to food security," said Hichilema.
Illegal migration continues to be prominent in modern day Africa as habitants seek 'greener pastures' abroad, particularly Europe across the Mediterranean.
Apart from citing smart farming to avert the threat of climate change, Hichilema also indicated that technology was key for Africa to produce skilled labor to make its population competitive on the job market.
"With technology, we can also operate non-stop borders which will make trade within ourselves much easier and seamless. By trading more amongst ourselves within the continent, we will be spending more resources locally within the continent," he added.
Zambia's Minister for Home Affairs and Internal Security Jack Mwiimbu said the country continued to make progress in digital technology, with 1.5 million citizens on the nation's integrated national registration information system.
VISA Inc senior vice president and group head for Africa, Aida Diarra, said there was a need of about $300 billion to make sure that Africa was internet connected and that Visa had made a commitment to invest around $1 billion to sustain infrastructure and build technology to drive financial inclusion.
The summit is running under the theme "Building resilient and secure digital governments for sustainable development" and has attracted over 500 local and foreign delegates to find ways of enhancing the continent's digital future.