Stop the freebies, fund their future — Adesina urges support for African youth

The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, has called for increased investment in Africa’s youth, urging governments and institutions to fund ideas rather than offer token empowerment schemes.

Speaking on the continent’s growing youth population, Adesina described Africa’s youth bulge as a demographic asset that must be transformed into an economic asset through rigorous investment in human capital development and financing.

“Young people don’t need freebies or vague empowerment programmes. They need capital to turn their skills and ideas into thriving businesses,” the former Nigerian agriculture minister said.

He criticized the rising ‘Japa’ syndrome  a term for the increasing migration of young Nigerians abroad  as a major loss for Nigeria and Africa. “In the case of young people and the Japa syndrome, it’s a big loss for us,” he lamented.

Adesina emphasized that Africa’s 465 million young people between the ages of 15 and 35 should not become “somebody else’s problem” due to the continent’s failure to invest in their potential.

“I do not believe that the future of our young people lies in Europe, America, Canada, Japan, or China. It should lie in Africa growing well, growing robustly, and creating quality jobs,” he said.

He stressed that Africa’s youth population is not a problem, drawing comparisons to countries like India and China. “It is what you do with your population; how you skill them up,” he added.

According to Adesina, proper skilling, job creation, and social protection for young people will unlock prosperity for Africa. He also noted that in a world of rising tariffs