Professor Goski Alabi, Dean of School of Graduate Studies at the University of Professional Studies, Accra, has said that Africa lacked strategic leadership in managing its resources.
Prof. Alabi disagreed with the assertion that Africa’s underdevelopment was as a result of imperialism, and stressed that in terms of natural resources, Africa was the world’s largest and richest continent, yet was associated with diseases, poverty and low educational background.
Strategic Planning
She said this at a strategic leadership colloquium in Accra for the School of Graduate Studies of the University of Professional Studies, Accra, on the theme: “Strategic Planning: A Tool for Organisational Effectiveness.”
Prof. Alabi said Africa leaders lacked the requisite vision in utilising its natural resources to maximise wealth and that after independence, African countries could not institute realistic goals to manage its resources.
She said the Millennium Development Goals were clear-cut strategic goals supported by all countries in the world.
Prof. Alabi said the country, in the 1970s, introduced the agricultural initiative: "Operation Feed Yourself," which was accepted as a national agricultural policy aimed at boosting food production and sufficiency, but that vision is absent in this current dispensation.
Colloquium
Prof. Alabi said the colloquium was a scholar practitioner approach to teaching and learning, in ensuring that students developed strategic plans to meet the needs of society.
She called for partnership between tertiary education, government and industry in addressing the problem of strategic leadership, adding that institutions of higher education must focus more on practical than theory.
Prof. Alabi said universities must start looking at their teaching and learning methodologies and make them more friendly and practical to meet the needs of society for national development
She said for a course to be useful, it had to be realistic to the needs of society, the country and the people, who contributed to the development of the country.
Brigadier General Edward Edem Dovi Fiawoo, Justice Advocate General of the Ghana Armed Forces, said strategic planning was important to any organisation because it provided a sense of direction and outlined measurable goals.
He urged other tertiary institutions to institute strategic leadership as a course since it was a useful tool for guiding the day-to-day decisions, and also for evaluating progress and changing approaches when moving forward.
