.LUNGU

By BRIAN HATYOKA –

ZAMBIA needs to provide a world class education system and create a strong foundation in science and mathematics as well as invest heavily in value addition to grow the domestic economy, President Edgar Lungu has said.
Mr Lungu said the country needs to increase exports of finished goods through industrialisation and create efficient energy resources.
He said engineering contributed enormously to every country’s economy and hence engineers should come forward and provide leadership in the development agenda.
Mr Lungu said this in Livingstone yesterday at Zambezi Sun Hotel in a speech read for him by Vice-President Inonge Wina.
This was during the official opening of the fifth Engineer’s Without Borders conference hosted by the Engineering Institution of Zambia (EIZ) and Southern African Federations of Engineering Organisations (SAFEO).
The three-day conference, which has attracted 68 local and international delegates from Africa and Europe, is being held under the theme “Engineering Knowledge Creation, Sharing and Collaboration”.
Mr Lungu said Zambia cannot solve its current economic problems with old ways of doing things, as the world has changed and become more competitive.
He said there is need for citizens to change their mindset and the current culture of doing things by being more dependent on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) like the case is elsewhere in the world.
“Africa has so many problems and Zambia is not an exception. The problems include poverty, disease, unemployment, poor infrastructure and yet Africa is said to be very rich in natural resources
With this situation, I have wondered whether we have engineers in Africa or Zambia. In short, there would be no development without engineers,” Mr Lungu said.
He said STEM including innovation and entrepreneurship contributed to a better society, economy and the nation.
He said Zambia needs people to be working smarter rather than just harder if the country was to have productivity growth.
Mr Lungu said the Zambian Government had formulated the national transformation strategy as a tool to deliver a better quality of life for Zambian people
“Some of the major challenges are poor roads and networks, unreliable power supply, low agricultural output, poor educational infrastructure, poor hospitals, lack of fresh water and sanitation
“In all these challenges, the Government needs to partner with engineers to solve these problems,” Mr Lungu said.
EIZ president Bernard Chiwala said it is the first time in the 50 years of the engineering profession existence in Zambia, that the Republican President had accepted to officiate at the engineering conference.
Mr Chiwala said the gesture by President Lungu is an act of God and a sign of new direction in the current Government.
“This demonstrates that engineering occupies a central place in the current administration. As EIZ, we shall endeavor to support the girl child in pursuing sciences and engineering studies.
“Engineering should be placed at the center of development agenda. Engineers are doers and usually change the footsteps of history and they are a bridge between scientific principles and reality,” Mr Chiwala said.
SAFEO president Martin Munuhwa condemned the recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa and that there is need for Africans to share their skills in any part of the world without being attacked.