Posted on January, 25, 2019 at 08:20 am
President John Magufuli met with religious leaders at the State House in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
The aim was to hear from them and each of those, who got an opportunity to speak, aired their views by first thanking President Magufuli and his fifth phase government for great strides that had been achieved since he came to power in 2015.
Second, they expressed some challenges they thought the government had to address in the best interests of all Tanzanians.
One of the areas they touched was the industrial economy agenda, which we think it is good to highlight today.
The views given in this regard were that if we really wanted to build an industrial economy there was a need for adequate production of raw materials through irrigation agriculture.
Israel and Botswana, in particular, were cited as being examples of using the limited water they had to produce enough for their people and export the surplus.
Truly, if we invest enough in the sector of agriculture, which employs the majority of Tanzanians, it will create jobs for the unemployed youth, who often flock to urban centres in search of greener pastures.
Tanzania has a favourable climate and good arable land on which various crops can grow. Tanzania envisions becoming a middle income and industrial economy by 2025-that is six years to go.
The middle income and industrial economy implies also other investments in various sectors of the economy.
According to the World Economic Forum Report (WEF), which looks at the trends expected in the 2018-2022 period in 20 economies and 12 industry sectors, there is a positive outlook for jobs-amid significant job disruption.
The WEF says in quantitative terms, 75 million current job roles may be displaced by a shift in the division of labour between humans, machines and algorithms, while 133 million new job roles may emerge at the same time.
The report shows growing job roles such as data analysts, software and application developers and e-commerce and social media specialists-jobs that are significantly based on, and enhanced by, the use of technology.
The report also highlights expected to grow job roles based on human traits such as customer service workers, sales and marketing professionals, training and development, people and culture and organisational development specialists and innovation managers.
These areas, the report notes, are the ones employers look for. We have mentioned these areas because we think they go hand-in-hand with the middle income and industrial economy Tanzania is building.
So, various contributions of religious leaders should also remind us to create and engage in jobs that will make the middle income and industrial economy sustainable.
This is the type of Tanzania we must envision by 2025 and even after.
Source: Daily News