The Students and Young Professionals’ Academy 2008 has ended in Accra with a call for African leaders to look inwardly for solutions to the continent’s problems.

Organised by IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, in collaboration with CATO Institute and African Liberty.org, the seminar brought together university students as well as young workers who listened to a number of high caliber academics, professionals and industrialists; who gave the participants insight into their various fields of achievement.

Members of the faculty included Dr. Nii Moi Thompson, a leading economist and Executive Director of Development Policy Institute, Herman Chinery Hesse, Chairman of Softribe Ghana Limited, Mrs. Dorothy Gordon, Director General of the Kofi Annan ICT Centre of Excellence, Tom Palmer, Vice president of CATO Institute and many others.

The six-day seminar was parked with lectures and discussions on several topics aimed at opening up the minds of the participants to the challenges of modern times.

Some of the topics that attracted heated debates between the students and faculty as well as among the students themselves included Energy Security, Internet governance and accessibility, The Rule of law and the accountability of public institutions, Trade liberalization and rationalization and Policy monitoring and evaluation.

Other topics included Populism and participatory democracy, Civil-military relationship in Africa, the Mobilization of telecom power as well as Climate Change and Food Security.