The Vice President for Academic Affairs at Academic City University, Dr. Sena Agbodjah, has called for Ghana to adopt a long-term national development agenda that transcends political parties and electoral cycles, arguing that sustainable progress requires continuity beyond successive governments.
Speaking to Channel One News on the sidelines of the Faculty of Built Environment Week celebration at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, Dr. Agbodjah said Ghana should emulate long-term development frameworks such as the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
“We need a national agenda that goes beyond four-year and eight-year political cycles,” she said, adding that once such a vision is established, political parties can align their manifestos with it rather than pursuing competing development priorities.
She argued that the absence of a shared national framework has led governments to pursue different agendas, making national development appear overly politicised.
According to Dr. Agbodjah, politics should serve as a vehicle for implementing an agreed national vision rather than defining the country’s development direction.
She said institutions such as the National Development Planning Commission, working with academia and citizens, could help shape a long-term agenda through research and broad public engagement.
Dr. Agbodjah also called for stronger collaboration between academia, industry, and government to ensure higher education produces graduates equipped to address the country’s development challenges.
She said universities should adopt an “open system” in which industry, government, and students help shape teaching and research, allowing issues such as youth unemployment, flooding, and industrial development to be addressed through applied, interdisciplinary research.
Such collaboration, she said, would strengthen curriculum development, promote innovation, and better prepare graduates to become both job creators and employees while providing research that informs public policy.
Dr. Agbodjah said closer partnerships between universities, industry, and government would be critical to achieving sustainable development and advancing Ghana’s long-term development aspirations under Agenda 2063.
