The Center for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA) has urged development institutions, governments, and international donor agencies to push the agenda of integration and digitalization of data-driven enterprises in Africa.

The CSEA called on key stakeholders in Africa to discuss the next step required to steer the continent in the right direction in relation to data governance.

The CSEA said it had noticed that data governance gaps were necessitated by concerns of security, lack of infrastructures and privacy issues, as many data driven enterprises did not know how their data is managed and managed, these gaps do not create a conducive environment for investment in data-driven enterprises in the African Sub-region.

However, this gap can be solved by investing funds to develop skills and infrastructure in data analytics whereby government creates freely accessible training platforms for data analytics, data governance and the digital economy for small businesses and independent workers.

Policies must be implemented to promote universal access to internet data services, which will ensure that countries have adequate infrastructure to exchange, store, and process data efficiently over the internet

Government, private sectors, and development agencies need to champion the implementation of policies and initiatives that can make data more open to businesses and orgnisations that needs them.

This can be done by creating a common platform where experts from different countries can collaborate and access shared local data from government agencies, especially in Africa.

In addition, there is the need for data-driven enterprises to develop capabilities and skills in data analytics.

Dr Adedeji Adeniran, Director of Research at CSEA, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency said Africa needed to focus on digitalization.

He said good data governance in Africa must be integrated and digitalize to help effective retrieving of reliable data, which local industries and institutions can tap into for references.

“We need good data governance to prevent cybercrime, digital identity fraud, censorship of data, issues of cross boarder data flow, data sovereignty, and localization issues.”

“If countries come together to support and share knowledge with unified regulatory framework, investors can trust in African countries for grand investments which will generate revenue for the country,” he said.

The Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA) is an independent nonprofit research organisation established in April 2008 out of the need to bridge the gap caused by the paucity of rigorous empirical research that affects the quality of policies implemented in African countries.

CSEA is poised to assist in disseminating best practices to enable African governments to improve their public fiscal management systems.

The Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development in collaboration with GOIL Company Limited, has engaged stakeholders in the industry to discuss fuel bunkering services for marine fishing vessels.

The meeting was also to identify problems hindering the sector and find pragmatic solutions to improve the sector and ensure sustainability for the workers

The meeting also discussed illegal bunkering services and other activities hampering progress in the sector.

Mrs. Mavis Hawa Koomson, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, said fuel bunkering constituted an important operation for marine fishing vessels and so the ministry agree on the need  to guarantee safe, timely, and closely monitored bunkering services for vessel owners.

She said  vessel owners also need to be protected from piracy, extremist activities, and any issues bothering transshipment.

The Minister said currently, the offshore Marine Gasoil (MGO) bunkering operations within the Ghanaian territorial waters were mainly serviced by oil companies who may not necessarily have the requisite operating permits from the regulatory bodies.

It is worth noting that payments and proceeds realized from the sale of MGO to fishing vessels in Ghana by the companies were paid directly into foreign accounts and thereby depriving Ghana of the necessary foreign exchange and taxes, she stated.

She expressed worry at the rate of illegalities in the sector and urged the stakeholders to adhere to the rules and regulations governing the fisheries sector.

Mr. J. B. Tagoe, GOIL Head of Technical and Special Products, said there was a need for transparency, truthfulness, honesty, and a high sense of integrity in doing business as the disruption caused by COVID-19 pandemic led to significant global economic downtown, which also led to the global recession.

He said GOIL throughout the last two years, offered offshore bunkering operations alongside the several years of delivering MGO on shore at the Ghana Bunkering Service (GBS) Tema, Sekondi Naval Base, and Takoradi Port.

Mr. Tagoe said GOIL would continue to build a dynamic organization while remaining committed to its aspirations, mandate, and mission.

He said GOIL would continue to have a longer and more fruitful connection with the Ministry, regulatory bodies, and other stakeholders.