Twahafa Neshuku
“No person is born great. Great people become great when others are sleeping” – An African proverb.
Having just concluded a successful and highly impactful Intra-Africa Business Summit held from 23-25 May 2022 by the Africa Economic Leadership Council, I am left with revived and compelling afterthoughts of a united and multifunctional Africa. The Africa that we want.
How do we as African youth contribute to the realisation of the Africa we want? How do we help to accelerate the implementation of all recommendations and resolutions endorsed at this now-concluded summit? Will it be just another business conference with no due action plan? “A roaring lion kills no game”, means that words and their echoes have no impact when there is little to no action.
How do we as Africans restore our dignity, and how do we regain economic prowess to transform our natural resources and mineral wealth without western intervention and exploitation, to the benefit of our continent and its people? How do we fast-track and enhance cross-border trade, barred of damning restrictions, which averts the continent’s socio-economic development?
A paradigm shift by the youth’s command
As African youth, we have an obligation to restore and unite our continent in preparation for generations to come. Yet, in the wake of poverty and unemployment, most African youth remain uncertain about their futures.
Inadequate efforts to combat unemployment have detrimental effects on the livelihoods of African youth. Africa has the world’s youngest population, with with a median age of 19.7 years.
A study by the African Development Bank has shown that in 2015, one-third of Africa’s then youth between the ages of 15-35 were unemployed, another third were vulnerably employed, and only 1 in 6 was in wage employment.
Many years later, youth development still remains the most underfunded sector in Africa. Namibia’s youth unemployment rate is projected to be at 49% in 2022, according to the country’s econometric models. African governments have failed to see youth as resources rather than problems, and this has resulted in unrest, migration, economic recline, unproductivity and disunity.
On a continent where the oldest president is 86 years old and the youngest president is 44, it is high time the youth are enabled to actively and collectively facilitate the decolonialisation of institutions, and action the realisation of the African Dream. Every battle won is first fought in the mind, yet governments and NGO’S can support this shift by thinking beyond all existing development models.
Self-reform automatically brings about social reform – Ramana Maharshi.
Re-positioning of African youth as economic champions
Development is an endogenous process which emanates from extensive interaction among grassroots, organisations, the economy and other echelons of the socio-economic order. There is an urgent need for reform in the area of human capital investment and development, starting from grassroots level. In retrospect, it takes a diamond to cut a diamond. Therefore, investment and development efforts aimed towards youth productivity must be centred on the previously disadvantaged youth of Africa, who are the unpolished treasures of this great continent.
The Intra-Africa Business Summit focused on key economic sectors such as tourism and hospitality, Continental Trade, ICT and Industrialisation, Agriculture and Food Security, Investment and Finance. The mission is to eradicate poverty and create sustainable development and industrialisation in Africa, with inclusive youth empowerment. This mission is primarily hampered by Africa’s persistent inequality and poor government policies.
The AU Agenda 2063 identifies key areas which can transform Africa’s economic status. Encouraging and supporting youth in agriculture towards a self-sufficient and self-fed continent is one of the strategies that Africa must strengthen in the various aspects of the agricultural value chain. Furthermore, we must collectively work towards the digitalisation of the continent, in preparation for the 4th Industrial Revolution. In fact, the world’s youngest billionaires are from the IT industry. Innovation is fundamental to rebuilding Africa post the Covid-19 pandemic and as such, abled youth ought to take centre-stage in innovative and solution-driven projects related to Africa’s travel and tourism industry.
‘Aid to trade’
Among the highlighted recommendations at the concluded Intra-Africa Business Summit 2022 was economic independency. Africa has exorbitant continental trade tariffs in comparison to other regions, and this discourages Intra-African Trade.
In 2018, Africa’s total imports were worth approximately US$549 billion, the largest imported product being petroleum and mineral oils valued at approximately US$60 billion – that was 11% of the continent’s total imports in that year. Africa’s biggest trading “partners” are China, the EU and the USA, highlighting a clear trade deficit. Ironically, these countries also happen to be Africa’s biggest aid donors.
How do we put an end to generations of exploitation disguised as “free aid”, aimed at creating further dependency and the systematic destabilisation of our economies? This is by rewriting the narrative of “aid” as preconditioned by the colonisers and western imperialists, and redefining African trade to market our capital goods and currencies to compete at global levels.
In more ways than one, aid is deceptive and debilitating. Moreover, charity must start at home. So, how do we become our own heroes? Through unrestricted, cross-border trade, ensuring that our resources move locally and continentally before they reach competitive, international trade markets.
As African youth, we must stand for visibility and representation in order to fast-track the implementation of all the recommendations and resolutions endorsed at this Intra-Africa Trade Business Summit. These are quintessential measures to take when realising the African Dream. It is quite evident that we are very far from where we should be as a continent, but the vision remains clear. It is only through collaborative efforts and inter-continental trade that we can propel an African climate for Africans. It is indeed time for the African child to assume responsibility and position themselves in fortitude for the Africa We Want. “However long the night, the dawn will break”- African proverb.
*Twahafa Neshuku is a Pan-African youth.