The government of Ghana has entered into an agreement with international technology firm, Google, to incorporate the country’s GPS address in its mapping system, Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has said.
The agreement was reached after a technical evaluation by Google to certify Ghana’s addressing system.
Disclosing this at the opening of the YouthConnekt Africa Summit in Accra, the Veep said the government was using technology to solve many challenges facing the country.
“We have engaged google since last year and we have now obtained the agreement because they have to go through technical processes to evaluate our GPS digital system and so by the end of this year, goggle has agreed to allow us to integrate our digital address system into goggle maps. So people can use them here in Ghana”, he said.
“We moved from there to address the problem of the fact that so many people including a lot of the youth don’t have banks accounts and therefore excluded from the financial system” he added.
Speaking at the same event, Assistant Secretary-General and Director – UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa, Ahunna Eziakonwa stressed the need for African governments to initiate youth-centered policies to reduce the growing poverty on the continent.
“Poverty is on the increase in general, and that extreme poverty, in particular, is rising at alarming proportions. This is a trend that has been exacerbated by the Covid 19 pandemic – but one that nonetheless exposes the faulty lines in the development models that prioritized neither provision of services, inclusion, nor maximizing of Africa’s resources for Africa’s development.”
“The spotlight on Covid-19 should usher in a new page that accelerates action on Africa’s Beyond Aid Agenda” she noted.
Adopted by the African Union, the YouthConnekt Africa is a Pan-African programme established to co-design and accelerate relevant solutions for youth socio-economic development, and to support intergovernmental knowledge exchange on policy, programmes and partnerships.
The 2021 edition of the Youth Connekt Africa Summit is the first large continental convening focused solely on drawing stakeholders together to address the most pressing youth development demands within this post-Covid-19 pandemic period which has not only Africa through the loss of human life but also set back the continent’s thriving economies.
Hosted by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the 2021 YouthConnekt Africa Summit is themed: “Africa Beyond Aid: Positioning the Youth for Post COVID Economy and AfCFTA Opportunities”.
The event will discuss key issues concerning youth employment on the continent.