Dakar, Senegal – West African nations should commit at least 30% of their national budgets to education, a leading regional lawmaker has urged. Orlando Dia, Chairman of the ECOWAS Parliament Committee on Health and a Member of Parliament from Cabo Verde, argues that such significant investment is crucial for driving local production and lessening dependence on more developed countries.
Speaking to journalists on Thursday at an ongoing meeting of the Joint Committee on Education, Science and Culture, and Communication in Dakar, Mr. Dia emphasized the vital role of both national and regional parliaments in championing innovation and technology through education.
Mr. Dia stressed that integrating innovation, information technology, and artificial intelligence into ECOWAS member states’ education systems is fundamental for achieving sustainable development.
He believes that prioritising EdTech (educational technology) would empower West Africa to become more self-sufficient. This, he explained, would be achieved by enabling the transformation of local raw materials into finished goods, thereby fostering job creation and wealth within the region.
“The role of the Parliament is the promotion of technology in education,” Mr. Dia stated. “I had to speak today about the need and the role of Parliament, of our Parliaments, both the ECOWAS Parliament and our national Parliaments, in the sense of promoting the education sector, technologies, and innovation, which are very important sectors for the process of economic and social development of our respective countries.”
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