Establish Open Source Clubs In Universities_ UG-GMES Coordinator

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Establish Open Source Clubs in Universities_ UG-GMES Coordinator

Director for Global Monitoring for Environment and Security and Africa (Marine) project in West Africa, Prof. George Wiafe has called for the establishment of open source clubs in all the twelve ECOWAS countries, starting with the University of Ghana.

Prof. George Wiafe, Project coordinator of GMES and Africa (marine) in West Africa, addressing the workshop participants
The establishment of these clubs he believes will serve as a capacity-building avenue for students and will better equip them to exploit the benefits from the blue economy agenda. It will further leverage the competition between students from Africa and the rest of the world. The club has been created at the Department of Marine and Fisheries Sciences at the University of Ghana, with about 80 members so far.

He made this call during a joint workshop between the marine and fisheries sciences departments of the University of Ghana and the University of Lagos. The joint workshop was supported by the Marine and Coastal Areas Management in western Africa project implemented by the Regional Marine Centre.

The workshop themed, “West Africa’s blue economy: building the capacity of the next generation” had in attendance, over one hundred marine and fisheries science students and senior lectures from the University of Ghana and the University of Lagos.
Group picture of workshop participants, 26th February 2020
The European Commission defines the blue economy as all economic activities related to oceans. Hitherto, how everyone can come together to benefit from the ocean’s resources. Although the west African maritime domain continues to be rich in natural resources including fish, hydrocarbon deposits and an important global shipping route, it continues to be saddled with a myriad of challenges. Piracy, armed robbery at sea, the proliferation of illicit trade, drug and weapon trafficking are among the many activities affecting the maritime domain.

Delivering the address on the challenges confronting west Africa’s blue economy, Lieutenant at the Ghana Navy, Joshua Agbenyenu revealed, Nigeria recorded the highest number of incidences at sea between 2018 – 2019.

“Although piracy attacks have reduced from previous years, others are still on the rise which is creating an uncomfortable situation for the shipping industry”, he said. He also mentioned that if these activities are not curbed, it will spread to other parts outside of Nigeria.
Lieutenant Joshua Agbenyenu, Ghana Navy, addressing the workshop participants
According to Lieutenant Joshua Agbenyenu, there is the need for a collaborative effort between countries, agencies, international bodies and programmes such as GMES and Africa to end illicit activities at sea, since the impact of these activities is enormous.

The Head of Department of Marine Sciences at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Dr Minasu Pentho Kuton said the challenges facing Nigeria’s maritime domain emphasizes the need for the creation of opensource clubs to help generate interest among the future generation in the maritime domain and proffer solutions.

He also underscored the importance of the workshop, saying it will enable the students to understand better, what is taught in the classroom. “We have field engagements in Nigeria as well but Ghana seems to have a unique ecological setup which we try to exploit”, he added. 
Dr Minasu Pentho Kuton, HOD Dept. of Marine Sciences at UniLag (in the middle), Prof. George Wiafe, UG-GMES Project Coordinator (at the left) and Dr. Samuel  Addo, HOD Dept of Marine and Fisheries Sciences at UG.

The joint workshop between the two universities is an annual event for students studying marine and fisheries sciences in both universities and it is hosted by of the Marine and Fisheries Department of the University of Ghana under the leadership of Dr. Samuel Addo.

Comments

  1. Unknown6 March 2020 at 11:03

    Africa is at a cross-roads at the moment. We are very dependent on foreign aid and not investing much in research and development. The youth are eager to leave the shores of Africa to seek greener pastures. This is the time to give them hope. The sort of hope that would make them confident in themselves. On the platform of OPENSOURCE, the student in Africa is comparable to the ivy league chap in Harvard. We are committed to showing the way through our opensource initiative dubbed "EO-Hackers" (i.e. Earth Observation Hackers").

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown7 March 2020 at 04:09

    The need for a collaborative effort between Agencies, international bodies and other maritime stakeholders is key in maintaining a safe maritime Domain as well as curbing illicit activities at sea.

    ReplyDelete

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