Youth Restiveness Ticking Time Bomb for Nigeria – Elumelu

Youth Restiveness Ticking Time Bomb for Nigeria - Elumelu
Chairman of the United Bank of Africa (UBA) Tony Elumelu
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International industrialist and Chairman of the United Bank of Africa (UBA) Tony Elumelu has stressed the need to unlock the potential of youths in Nigeria and Africa generally, stating that failure to do that could be disastrous.

The banking Czar said this in an address he delivered to 21,000 youth at the Joshua Generation International Youth Conference organised by the Anglican Church at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State.

According to him, youth restiveness remains a ticking time-bomb in the continent, noting that countries in the region continue to face issues around extremism, banditry, robbery, senseless killing, kidnapping, and political thuggery, among others which are all products of a malfunctional system.

Read Also: Elumelu: Africa’s Devt Agenda Must Prioritise Job Creation

Elumelu pointed out that Africa is the world’s youngest continent, explaining that almost 60 percent of the country’s population is under the age of 25.

In Africa, young people of 35 years and under are estimated to constitute 70 percent of the population of the country, he said.

‘However, the jobless rate in Nigeria has now risen to about 30 percent in March 2021. Some states have as high as 56 percent of all their youth population as unemployed. In Africa, the situation is not much different: We have 65 percent of all Africans below the age of 35 and many of these people are not gainfully employed’.

‘The Covid-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns have exposed the vulnerabilities in our population structure. We now have, as a continent, the largest young generation in history – this youthful population is Africa’s hope, it is our pride and it is our potential. The urgency and need to unlock the potential of this generation is imperative for the security of our collective future,‘ he said.

While speaking on the power of entrepreneurship, Elumelu said: ‘For me and my colleagues at UBA, at TEF and the across the HH Group, we have come to believe that entrepreneurship is key to harnessing the potential of these young Africans

‘By so doing, we secure our own future. This comes from our own experience, first as entrepreneurs ourselves. And secondly, as people that have committed a lot of resources at TEF (capital, time, personnel) in helping create a new generation of African entrepreneurs. We are helping to give economic hope and opportunities to young Africans. And we speak as people that do this in Africa but in all 54 African countries, the TEF intervention cuts across all sectors and gender across the 54 African countries because we believe that prosperity should be shared as much as possible across the board and that poverty anywhere is a threat to us all everywhere.”

Finally, Elumelu commended the Nigerian government for its approach to taxes for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises stating ‘I must commend the Federal Government for the good work in the area of tax waivers for Micro-businesses. Tax-friendly policies that encourage our entrepreneurs are necessary and much more is required, but good work has been done and the government should be commended.’

 

AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK

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