At one time V S Naipaul, a Trinidadian-born Nobel Prize-winning British writer famously said history is built around achievement and creation; and nothing was created in the West Indies.
Though the remark angered black West Indians, it is true since it highlights the importance of science and technology which usually differentiates developed nations from under developed ones.
Investment in science and technology is largely responsible for the disparity between Europe and Africa, the latter which is still lagging in development.
One area where this manifests is in the military power of the west especially the invention of the Maxim gun by Sir Hiram Stevens Maximin 1883.
The first recoil-operated machine gun has been called the weapon most associated with the British imperial conquest.
The Maxim gun was first used by Britain’s colonial forces in the First Matabele War in 1893-1894.
In one engagement, 50 soldiers fought off 5,000 warriors with just four Maxim guns. The gun also played an important role in the swift European colonisation of Africa in the late 19th century.
The extreme lethality was employed to devastating effect against obsolete charging tactics, when native opponents could be lured into pitched battles in open terrain. As it was put in a well-known jingle by Hilaire Belloc, Whatever happens, we have got the Maxim gun, and they have not.
Science and technology has also been attributed to industrialisation of Europe which ultimately led to imperial conquest.
Industrialisation which was hinged on science and technology made it more possible for European countries to conquer other countries at the same time giving European countries more of a motive to go out and conquer.
This was made possible because industrialisation gave the European countries better weapons like guns and cannons.
It also gave them the ability to mass produce these weapons and to use them to overwhelm the countries that they went out to conquer.
This became even truer when the Europeans developed steamships that increased their naval abilities.
In other fields of science and technology, European countries like Britain had an upper hand since it invested in development of medicine, building of roads, boats and cars.
In short we can’t underestimate investment in science and technology which is largely responsible for Africa lagging behind countries in Europe.
To catch up, there is no other way but for African governments and all national actors to grasp the increasing opportunities that technology and innovation offer for human development and transformation of the continent.
Scholars of development have noted that currently poor technological capability remains one of the major constraints to Africa’s efforts to achieve sustainable development.
This was highlighted at the opening session of the 2014   African Economic Conference, organised under the theme “Knowledge and Innovation for Africa’s Transformation”, which took place from November 1-3 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
In her keynote address, Demitu Hambissa, the Ethiopian Minister of Ministry of Science and Technology, observed that the pace of skills and technological development and innovation has been slow in Africa mainly because of the absence of a critical mass of university-educated manpower skilled in hands-on technology.
This is addition to lack of high quality laboratories and scientific equipment, the unavailability of long-term finance and weak private sector initiative.
“To sustain the impressive economic growth Africa has experienced over the last decade, policy-makers of the region should focus and learn the best practice in fostering technology transfer and identifying critical innovation barriers and gaps to achieve increased productivity and structural transformation of its economies,” Hambissa said.
The AEC 2014 theme, “Knowledge and Innovation for Africa’s Transformation”, drew from the African Union Agenda 2063 and the African Common Position on its Post-2015 Development Agenda which also identified science, technology and innovation as key pillars for Africa’s development.
“We need skills, technology, knowledge and innovation to ensure democratic and responsive governance that can deliver effective public services and to facilitate universal access to basic services such as food and nutrition, water and sanitation, shelter, health and education,” said Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, the African Union Commission Chairperson.
She further underscored the need to strengthen higher education in universities where enrolment has increased by 16 per cent over the last decade.
At the conference, it was also noted that Africa’s stock of graduates is still highly skewed towards the humanities and social sciences, while the share of students enrolling in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics averages less than 25 per cent, according to pre-conference briefs.
In his remarks, Steve Kayizzi-Mugerwa, Acting Chief Economist and Vice-President, AfDB, noted that adequate accumulation of skills, technology and competences for innovation is key to Africa’s transformation.
He pointed out that though most governments recognise the importance of knowledge generation and innovation, implementation of strategies to address the skills deficit in areas that are critical for realisation of the goal of structural transformation is still lacking.
Our own Zambian scholar Professor Henry Kyambalesa has written extensively on the correlation between science and technology and development.
He has rightly argued that economic development can only be achieved if a country invests in science and technology as has been evidenced in most European countries.
It is sad then to note how Africa has underplayed investing in these ventures considering that since the industrial revolution in the 18th century several sectors like energy, physical sciences, information and communication have all been boosted by science and technology.
Science and technology has actually largely contributed to the vision of man about himself.
Through the results of scientific discoveries, the perception of man about his behaviour and his place of origin has been modified diversely.
Societies that have invested massively in science and technology have awesome power over countries that have not done so.
Even social ills like colonialism and racism with their attendant negative social effects on victims like blacks can only be fought effectively if the affected parties create their own societies hinged on science and technology.
As societies evolve, victims of social ills like apartheid, colour bar and colonialism should address their predicament squarely to come up with permanent solutions.
One way of doing this is investing in science and technology.