Prez Akufo-Addo urges African leaders to use education to unlock development

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called on African countries to use education as the key for their development.

He said African countries must run their economies to fund the education of their present and future generations and should not get into arguments with the so-called donor agencies about priorities.

"We have to set our own priorities and accept that we have to provide the funds to translate our plans into reality,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo said this when he addressed staff and students of Princeton University in the United States.

The event was held under the theme: “The future is Africa: Translating Vision into Action."

He said the provision of education for African young people should not become an ideological issue and should never have to make a choice between basic education or higher education, adding that, "African countries should never rely on the World Bank or any other institution to decide for them where their emphasis should be for their educational needs.”

On graduate unemployment, President Akufo-Addo said the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) was a potential tool of setting Africa on the track to prosperity as well as the digitisation of agriculture to deal with food security.

He also tackled questions on national health insurance, malaria eradication as well as improvement of regulations for progressive investor relations from the audience.

The President is expected to speak at Rutgers University also in New Jersey before delivering a speech at the General Assembly of the United Nations on September 25.