Mr. Ebenezer Kofi Essienyi, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), has called on engineers to be tech savvy and innovative to combine knowledge and application of science with smart systems to improve the livelihood of the citizenry.
‘The world is constantly evolving and as engineers, you must evolve with it and bring change and see it as an opportunity to grow.
The modern engineer is expected to have leadership and good communication skills, high emotional intelligence and to understand modern trends in performance and human resource management, ‘ he observed.
Addressing graduates at 57th graduation of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) for the College of Engineering, he indicated that ‘Ghana and the world is going nowhere without engineers and therefore engineers who shut their eyes to the realities of the world will become dinosaurs of our age. ‘
Ghana, he noted, like many parts of the world, was in the midst transformation and thriving for sustainable and
reliable engineering solutions to meet the needs of the growing population and a booming economy.
Mr Essienyi mentioned that digitization of the economy going forward was a must, adding that was where engineers’ expertise come into play to unlock new and sustainable emerging solutions, improving infrastructure and innovating in ways that could uplift communities.
He expressed concern about why there were still unreliable electricity supply, water shortages, flooding, unmaintained roads, faulty traffic lights with the educational level of Ghanaians and connectedness to the world.
He believed it was time engineers lived up to their duties and solved such problems in Ghana.
Mr Essienyi suggested that in taking transformational efforts, the youth must be empowered, educational systems strengthened and embracing home-grown solutions for Ghanaians.
The College of Engineering presented a total of 1,655 graduates for the 2023 ceremony.
Of this number, 1,294 are males and 361 females.
Professor Kwabena Biritwum
Nyarko, Provost, KNUST College of Engineering, said the College had maintained a reputation for being at the forefront of preparing manpower to support the technological and engineering advancement of Ghana and beyond.
The college established three programmes in the Gambia Technical University which is now being transformed to the University of Applied Science Engineering and Technology with funding from the World Bank.
He said the first cohort was in the third year.
Pof. Biritwum mentioned that in support for early career academics, the College with funding from the KNUST Engineering Education Project, had supported six early career academics to spend time with some collaborative universities in the United States and India to deepen their research skills and explore collaborative research opportunities.
Source: Ghana News Agency