Africa recognizes that in order to achieve economic and social progress, countries have to put more emphasis on how to use the sciences as a vehicle for development, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA), Dr. Ibrahim Mayaki, said in Midrand today during a meeting with Prof. Neil Turok, Chair of the Next Einstein Initiative (NEI) of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS).