NAN-F-32
Youths
Isaac Aregbesola
Addis Ababa, Jan. 30, 2017 (NAN) African leaders have been called upon to develop the potential of youths to accelerate development of the continent.
Statistics by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) indicated that in spite of African youths being the most educated generation to emerge from schools and universities, a youth is twice as likely to be unemployed when he/she becomes an adult.
The World Bank has also described Africa as having the largest “youth bulge” in the world, as the number of youth is expected to grow by 42.5 million between 2010 and 2020.
Experts have also argued that youth unemployment and underemployment are among the main barriers to development in Africa.
Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the outgoing African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson, said on Monday in Addis Ababa that the future of Africa largely depended on the development and investment in the youth.
Dlamini-Zuma spoke at the on-going 28th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of States and Governments of AU.
According to her, the focus on the youth justifies the theme; “Harnessing the Demographic Dividends through Investment in African Youth’’.
“This is the comparative advantage we have, which must be translated into demographic dividends. To harness these resources, we must firstly provide all Africa’s boys, girls and young people with opportunities to be in school.
“To unlock their full potential, we should do more to involve young people. This is economically prudent, and a democratic imperative, since they constitute the majority of our population.
“By involving young people, they have a sense of ownership and stake in the future. By facilitating the full participation of girls and young women, we are securing the future,” she said.
According to her, the future of Africa belongs to the youth, both the quality of that future will be determined by what they make of it today.
She said that the youth also had the responsibility to learn, read, serve, participate, innovate, build, and to create.
“They have a responsibility to be organised at local, national and continental levels, so they can help drive Agenda 2063,” she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Agenda 2063 is a strategic framework for the socio-economic transformation of the continent over the next 50 years.
Its builds on, and seeks to accelerate the implementation of past and existing continental initiatives for growth and sustainable development.
Zuma noted that there was also the need to tackle youth unemployment, adding that 60 per cent of the unemployed were young people, noting that their unemployment rate doubled that of adults.
According to her, the continent’s programmes of of agricultural modernisation and development of agro-processing must target creation of job opportunities for young entrepreneurs.
``In this regard, we welcome the African development Bank’s strategy for jobs for the youth in Africa 2016-2025, which aims to create 25 million jobs and impart 50 million youths.
“The bank estimates that reducing African youth unemployment rate to that of adults, would translate to a 10 to 20 per cent increase in the continent’s Gross Domestic roduct (GDP).
“We must ensure that African children, young men and women see the blue oceans economy as part of their natural heritage and for possible career paths.’’
According to her this same goes for our celestial space and careers in the space science.
The 28th Ordinary Session, which began on Jan. 24, would close on Jan. 31. (NAN)
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Edited by Ese E. Ekama