The African Scientific Research and Innovation Council has urged African scientists to rise to the challenges bedevilling the continent and provide plausible solutions.

The executive director of the African Union Scientific and Technical Research Commission (AUSTRC) and ASRIC, Ahmed Hamdy, gave the charge while addressing the participants at the seventh ASRIC Congress on Wednesday in Zanzibar, Tanzania.

He harped on the need for a homegrown approach to tackling the challenges faced by Africans on the continent.

Mr Hamdy urged African scientists to prepare and take advantage of grand opportunities offered by science and technology and transform the continent.

“I call on African scientists and researchers to foster STI to solve their various development challenges and transform our economies. Every African scientist should see this as a wake-up call and rise to the challenge of addressing these problems on our continent.

“Africa has challenges such as food insecurity, in energy, health, infrastructure, infectious disease, and climate change, which needs to be fixed with science and technology,” said Mr Hamdy.

Mr Hamdy added that ASRIC, an advisory body of the African Union (AU), was created for African scientists to leverage and put Africa on the global map through science and technology.

Amos Nungu, the director-general of the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology, said Africa can advance in fostering STI for national and regional development.

Mr Nungu said in his address that Africa needs many more African researchers capable of applying and developing scientific and technical knowledge to Africa’s problems and developing its huge potential.

He explained that the recent COVID-19 pandemic should serve as a reminder that science was not to be taken for granted, saying that science and innovation shape humanity.

(NAN)