President Akufo-Addo has stressed the need for students who are graduating from institutions of higher learning to be different in their various fields of endeavour.
That, he said, is because “there is limited room for conventional thinking today.”
He gave the advice during the graduation of students who had completed programmes in Master of Arts in Conflict, Peace and Security Studies; Master of Arts in Gender, Peace & Security and Executive Master of Arts in Conflict, Peace & Security Studies from the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping and Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra yesterday.
“Having gone through this institution, you are primed with problem-solving ideas and initiatives: the nation, the continent of Africa and the world at large await your contributions, no matter how small, to securing our peace,” he emphasised.
He therefore advised the graduands to “always strive to be different, and do not be afraid of failure.”
President Akufo-Addo proposed a set of values and attributes needed to transform students in institutions of higher learning for the 21st century job market.
Those, he said, include critical thinking, ability to solve complex problems, effective management of people, strong interpersonal skills and creativity in their studies before they graduate for the job market.
He believes that inculcating those values and attributes in students before their graduation would position them for the 21st century job market.
He therefore urged tertiary institutions to gear their programmes and courses towards imparting the critical skills needed for the transformation of the country’s economy.
The President urged the graduands to also bear in mind the fact that the traditional challenges to security on the continent, such as chieftaincy conflicts, armed robberies, land disputes, religious intolerance, ethnic conflicts and political rivalry, are being compounded by contemporary threats like drug and human trafficking, proliferation of small arms and light weapons, cyber-crime and activities of nomadic herdsmen.
He also touched on the emergence of transnational organised crimes, together with the evolving nature of terrorism, especially in the Sahel region, which he noted, “will continue to undermine our efforts of creating a progressive, prosperous, peaceful and stable continent.”
President Akufo-Addo therefore charged, “We must all remain committed to our collective vision – to build a new African civilisation, where the rule of law is not a slogan, but a directive principle of governance; where we deliver social and economic transformation that has a meaningful impact on the lives of our peoples….”
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