Africa must stop “spectating” in the global digital race and seize control of its own transformation, Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, Samuel Nartey George, said at the Mobex Africa Tech Expo and Innovation Conference 2025 in Accra.
The Minister touted the Mahama administration’s pursuit of a national digital strategy anchored on four pillars, innovation, infrastructure, inclusion and impact, with the objective of positioning Ghana as a producer of digital value rather than a passive consumer.
New capital and infrastructure commitments are central to the plan. He announced the establishment of a $1 billion Ghana-UAE Innovation and Technology Hub in Dawa, alongside a target to achieve nationwide broadband coverage by 2027, adding that a proposal is before Cabinet to require digital access infrastructure as part of every new road project.
He cited the ongoing training of citizens in all 261 districts through the one million coders Initiative in artificial intelligence, coding, cybersecurity and data analytics as measures to building a distributed talent base for the future economy, disclosing that Ghana aims to create 200,000 technology-enabled jobs by 2028 and generate about $2 billion annually in digital exports.
On digital sovereignty and intra-African trade, he pointed to the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPS) as a strategic lever to reduce dependency on external payment rails and keep value circulating within the continent.
To support innovation and regulatory clarity, government, according to Sam George, will table 15 new ICT-related bills in Parliament this year and will deploy regulatory sandboxes to allow innovators to test new technologies under supervision.
He closed with a call for African innovators to build locally-appropriate solutions for African problems and reshape the continent’s place in the global technology order, arguing that Africa can no longer afford to be “a consumer at the edge of someone else’s digital economy.”
