Akinwumi Adesina, the President
of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), has set up a 9-member
Presidential Youth Advisory Group (PYAG) on job creation to provide insights
and innovative solutions to the problem of youth unemployment across Africa.
He inaugurated the advisory group
on the sidelines of the 6th EU-Africa Business Forum in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
According to him, the advisory
group was part of AfDB’s Jobs for Youth in Africa initiative which aims at
creating 25 million jobs and impacting 50 million youth over the next ten years
by equipping them with the right skills to get decent and meaningful jobs.
He said the duty of the advisory
group would be to develop new and fresh perspectives and recommend innovative
solutions that will shape AfDB’s support to African countries and reduce the
scourge of Youth unemployment.
While stressing that “Africa has
an unemployment crisis among its youth,” Adesina observed that out of the 13
million youths that enter the labour market each year, only 3 million are in
wage employment, while the rest are underemployed or in vulnerable employment.
He said that if the youth
unemployment challenge is fixed, Africa’s GDP will grow by $500 million per
year for the next thirty years and per capita income within will rise by 55%
every year to the year 2050.
He noted that unless employment
opportunities are created for the youths, Africa’s rapidly growing population
of youths can give rise to serious social, economic, political and security
challenges.
“Africa’s youths, though strong
and dynamic, cross the desert or the Mediterranean sea because they do not find
decent jobs in Africa. Graduates are wandering in the streets, jobless. The low
level of employment opportunities is also fueling violence and extremism in
Africa.
“40% of African youths engaged in
armed violence join gangs or terrorist groups because of limited opportunities
in their countries.
“66 million African youths earn
less than $2 a day, less than the price of a hamburger. 66 million is 8 times the
size of Switzerland, 6 times the size of Belgium, the same size as UK, France
or Italy, and 80% of Germany’s population,” Adesina emphasised.
On why he inaugurated the
advisory group, Adesina explained: “We recognize the enormous amount of energy,
creative and innovative thinking, and entrepreneurial excellence that many of
our youth bring to the table. For this reason, the Bank must ensure that it is
well advised by cutting-edge youth representatives on its policies, actions and
programmes, for the benefit of Africa’s youth.”
The advisory group is to be
chaired by Ashish Thakkar (Tanzania), CEO of the Mara Group.
Other members are Uzodinma
Iweala, award-winning author, Nigeria; Mamadou Toure, CEO, Africa 2.0/Ubuntu
Capital, Cameroon; Vanessa Moungar, Human and Social Development Director, AfDB
and member of President Macron’s Presidential Council for Africa, Chad.
Also included are Francine
Muyumba, President, Panafrican Youth Union, Democratic Republic of Congo;
Jeremy Johnson, Co-founder, Andela, USA; Clarisse Iribagiza, CEO, Hehe, Rwanda;
Ada Osakwe, CEO, Agrolay Ventures, Nigeria; and Monica Musonda, CEO of Java
Foods, Zambia.
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