BY NGOZI OKORIE
PRESIDENT of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, says the Bank has invested $96m in its Higher Education and Science and Technology Project.
Adesina disclosed this while delivering his acceptance speech after receiving the Honorary Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) conferred on him by the Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
The award is in recognition of his outstanding contributions to science, research and academic leadership; reforms and thought leadership as well as significant contributions to Africa’s social and economic development.
The Bank’s HEST Project focuses on three major areas: supporting centers of excellence; ensuring infrastructure and training in specific areas.
The specific areas are agriculture and livestock, health sciences and health delivery support services, engineering, business enterprise, training teachers and educational management – and strengthening links with the labour market so that trained students can use their knowledge and skills productively.
Adesina said, “The African Development Bank is proud to have invested $96m in the Higher Education and Science and Technology (HEST) project which ended in 2019. Our support of $26m to Makerere University helped to construct two central teaching facilities, a four-storey building with fully equipped lecture and seminar rooms and a 5-storey building with an auditorium with capacity for 1,000 seats at a time.
“We also supported the construction of modern diagnostic laboratory equipment, a biotechnology laboratory worth $1m, a Geographic Information Systems laboratory and a computer laboratory.”
The AfDB President stressed that for Africa to make significant progress, there should be equal opportunities for both men and women.
“No bird flies with one wing. Africa will progress faster when there is equality between men and women,” he noted.
In his address to the congregation, the Chancellor, Makerere University, Prof. Ezra Suruma, commended the AfDB President for his excellent leadership in piloting the affairs of the Bank.
“We thank Dr. Adesina for the excellent work he is doing to uplift the African people and for honoring us with his presence today. As the African countries struggle to overcome the huge negative effects of COVID 19, I am sure that they will find a vital and sympathetic ally in the African Development Bank,” Suruma said.
