The impending African youth nightmare

Africa has the opportunity of a lifetime as she possesses the most versatile resources any continent would have; the youth. Out of the youth, we can create ICT engineers, administrators, agribusiness executives, diplomats and any other professionals, which come to mind. From them, Africa has the opportunity to create the workforce and the knowledge capital needed to achieve our developmental vision and aspirations. The only thing we have to do is to create the opportunities for them and direct them thereto.

In a few years time, 59% of 20 – 24year olds on the continent, would have secondary education. In numerical terms, this translates into 139 million young persons! What more could we hope for? We have gotten here, largely in many instances, by accident but to move forward, require thought, planning, vision and strategy. Accident would have no role to play in moving forward. The Africa political elites must not hide behind spin-doctors, summits and communiqués to continue to approach youth issues lukewarmly. They must act and work hard to create the jobs and opportunities required in getting our youth working.

Today, annually, 11 million youth are made available for the job market. By 2025, this figure would hit 25 million/annum. The basic question is how many jobs are creating annually today? I am not talking about the creation of youth programmes. My eye is on real job creation. Youth unemployment in Sub-Saharan African stands at 39%; in North Africa, the figure is 49%. This is the reality.

Africa has nearly 200 existing youth programmes besides Ministries, NGOs and Regional and International youth directed programmes but only a handful of these programmes have not been beset by corruption, structural weaknesses and familiar evils known across the continent. By a strange tradition, these institutions seem to be avenues for siphoning public funds, waste and or creating jobs for cronies of governments.

It is time to get all hands on board. Politicians should take a realistic lead by allowing experts to take centre stage. Beyond this, findings need to be implemented without the least wind of political interferences or manipulations. There is enough research work and body of knowledge on the youth to help Africa build the next ICT, Agribusiness and Entertainment billionaires to move the continent forward.

The youth must themselves act and come together to among others undertake the following:

1. Offer proposals to creating opportunities. Must speak directly and forcefully to their governments and the political elites

2. Refrain from being part of the corrupt systems in place in many nations

3. Come together at the national, regional and continental levels with concrete solutions to their plights

4. Form a global network with the aim of empowering themselves to creating a habitable society worthy of their aspirations and dreams

5. Embrace sharing and innovation and use them as reliable vehicles for their empowerment

6. They must court Civil Society Organisations and International Institutions.

7. There should be clarity in their needs and vision for themselves

African political elites must act or face a coming calamity. It is creeping in and latent but it may not stay so for long. This is not a vague assumption. It would be the consequences of the anxiety, negligence and poverty the deliberate actions of politicians have caused among the youth population.

Imagine millions of young persons armed with computer programming skills, engineers, chemical engineers, administrators, and psychologists, roaming the streets without jobs, frustrated and hungry! These young persons, most likely would turn out to be standing army for warlords, hackers, gangs, white collar criminals and whatever nightmarish scenario you can conceive.

I am not a prophet of doom. The correlation between unemployment, poverty and crime, is an established fact. I am merely interpreting a very plausible scenario, which is logical and very possible. The youth would find an avenue to use their ICT skills, engineering and other skills if we fail to create opportunities for them or help them to do the same. The African political elites should be weary. It would take only a spark for the youth to wake up and the chain of events would be too swift for their bulky structures to respond to.

ARNOLD BOATENG

Consultant and Youth Dev. Advocate

Author; Books: "THE AFRICAN YOUTH QUESTION, & DREAMS OF OUR YOUTH" (Available from Amazon and Kindle Store)

(For interviews/speaking engagements)

Tel: +233-20 98 30 546

T: @Arnold_Boateng