Africa's youth

They cross the daunting Sahara and the treacherous Mediterranean on foot and in rickety boats,respectively, in search of greener pastures. And too many end up in unmarked graves-- in the Sahara and the Mediterranean.

They serve as soldiers in the armies of strong men.

They serve as vigilantes in chieftaincy and tribal and political disputes.

They fight over toilets while their counterparts across the globe argue about technology.

They suffer from massive unemployment.

And in the midst of all this, their leaders-- our leaders-- proclaim loudly that this is Africa's century!!

That in essence, is the story of Africa's youth.

There are, currently about 200 million Africans between 15 and 24, according to the African Development Bank, making Africa the youngest continent. This number is expected to double by 2045.

While the unemployment rate in Africa is believed to be about 6%, compared to the global level of 5%, the youth make up 60% of Africa's unemployed. This is despite the fact that Africa has 6 of the 10 fastest growing economies in the World.

Our 668 or so universities churn out 10 million graduates a year and half of these fail to find employment.

Alexander Chikwenda, Zambia's Finance Minister, described youth unemployment as a " ticking time bomb".

Unemployment and underemployment are certainly the biggest problems facing our youth but it is barely ahead of education, substance abuse and vulnerability to diseases like HIV , other STD's and dispair.

These problems and the failure of African leaders to address them raise fundamental questions.

Why do we spend our scarce resources producing graduates who lack the skills to be the workforce we need for development? Why do our educators continue to produce graduates in history and drama and foreign languages when they know graduates in the same fields are unemployed?

If Africa has 65% of the World's arable land, according to the African Development Bank, why do we spend 35 billion USD annually to import food even as our youth roam around unemployed? Depressingly, we are projected to spend a whopping 110 billion USD on food imports annually by 2025!
Today, Brazil, Indonesia and Thailand each produce more food than Sub-Saharan Africa. Sadly , currently, we spend more on the millitary than on Agriculture.
Since Nkrumah's seminal 1963 Addis Ababa speech during the founding of the O.A.U., no African leader has laid out a vision of comparable depth, breadth and excitement.

Our leaders continue to re-arrange the chairs on the deck of our titanic continent even as it heads towards the proverbial iceberg.
We lack thinking and innovation. We lack the will to solve basic and pervasive problems.

Our tragedy is not for want of talent. We are the continent that produced a Pope 6 centuries ago. We are the continent that has produced 2 UN Secretary-generals, Pele and Mohammed Ali. We produced the geniuses whose inventions and innovations have transformed American and world science, arts and literature. And we are the continent on which a Malawian teenager invented windmills, a Ghanaian boy, Mawuli could drive the first time he sat behind the wheels of a car because he has watched his father and uncles for years and geniuses in Accra and Lagos can demonstrate, in a backhanded way, their ingenuity with 419 scams.

Some day, the youth of Africa will rise up against the selfish leaders whose greed has failed them and sent them, across the Sahara and the Mediterranean in search of opportunity. Or the voices of the dead, in unmarked graves will reach heaven and ask God for justice against the leaders who failed them.
Let us give our youth, in our schools, skills that are needed for our development.

Let us develop our Agriculture so that the 35 billion USD we spend a year importing food can help make our youth proud and prosperous farmers instead of dead migrants.

Let us stop parrotting the bull that drugs are not dangerous so our youth will not be sucked into its death spiral. Let our ambitions be about doing, for others, rather than being for ourselves.
Let us continue to advocate and struggle, on behalf of our youth.
Aluta Continua

Lift up Africa.

Arthur K