Sam Ikeotuonye
02 December 2017, Sweetcrude, Lagos – Africa’s gross domestic product, GDP, will grow by $500 billion per year for the next 30 years going by the Presidential Youth Advisory Group, PYAG, launched recently by the African Development Bank, AfDB.
The President of the AfDB, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, disclosed this, saying the PYAG, aimed at create 25 million jobs, would provide insights and innovative solutions for job creation for Africa’s youth as outlined in the Bank’s Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy, JfYA.
The jobs for Youth in Africa initiative aims to benefit 50 million youth over the next 10 years by equipping them with the right skills to get decent and meaningful jobs.
“It is currently the largest effort going on for youth employment in Africa.
This is a huge opportunity for Africa. If we fix the youth unemployment challenge, Africa will gain 10-20% annual growth.
“That means Africa’s GDP will grow by $500 billion per year for the next 30 years,” he said.
He said Africa’s per capita income would rise by 55 per cent every year to the year 2050.
Adesina, who identified Africa’s greatest asset as its youth, observed that out of the 13 million youths that enter the labour market each year, only 3 million (about 33% of African youth) are in wage employment.
The rest, he said were underemployed or in vulnerable employment.
“The annual gap of more than 8 million jobs is going to worsen, with the number of youth expected to double to more than 800 million in the next decades.
“Africa has an unemployment crisis among its youth,” he stressed.
He noted that unless employment opportunities are created for them, 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.
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