A former Minister for Science and Technology, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong Boateng is calling on academia and other stakeholders to conduct further studies and provide guidance on how to effectively manage the country’s water resources.
He said water, is a critical resource for development that must not be wasted or poorly managed.
Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of a collaborative training programme for some PhD students at the University of Ghana, the renowned heart surgeon said adequate knowledge must be acquired about oceans and water resources to ensure that their benefits are maximized for mankind.
“This is an exercise that will help us get enough knowledge about the ocean and water bodies. It recorded that almost 700 million people live closer to the ocean. Also, we have much water beneath the earth and this will help us discover and preserve them well in order to economize our resources,” he said.
The training programme, hosted at the Department of Earth Science of the University of Ghana, is a collaboration amongst the department, Nelson Mandela University in South Africa and some universities in France.
The trainees, all PhD students, will for seven days ending on Friday, October 8, 2021, build their capacity in different areas of ocean and marine development.
According to Prof. Frimpong Boateng, over 2.4 billion people stay 100km away from the ocean, so it is necessary to take the right step to go into further studies to prevent accidents that may occur in the future.
He further lauded the collaboration between the institutions in the three countries.
Dr. Isaac Oppong of the National Petroleum Corporation also said the training programme presents a great opportunity for the participating students to learn from each other and build their individual capacities.
He further pledged the readiness of the company to offer assistance to the Earth Science department to enable them to succeed in their research activities.
Amongst other activities the trainees will undertake during the period, they will visit some tourist destinations in the Volta Region.