{"id":11964,"date":"2023-05-30T16:36:32","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T16:36:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/?p=11964"},"modified":"2023-05-30T16:37:20","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T16:37:20","slug":"africa-day-lets-put-our-resources-at-risk-behind-africas-young-people-adesina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/2023\/05\/30\/africa-day-lets-put-our-resources-at-risk-behind-africas-young-people-adesina\/","title":{"rendered":"Africa Day: \u2018Let\u2019s put our resources at risk behind Africa\u2019s young people\u2019 – Adesina"},"content":{"rendered":"

Delegates attending the 2023 African Development Bank Group\u2019s\u00a0 (http:\/\/www.AfDB.org<\/a>) Annual Meetings in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, celebrated Africa Day on Thursday amid hopes for better prospects for the continent and its youth.<\/p>\n

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The commemoration, which marks the 60th<\/sup> anniversary of the establishment of the African Union, allowed for retrospection by member countries on how the continent can surmount its challenges towards achieving prosperity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Bank\u2019s Secretary General Vincent Nmehielle presided over the event.<\/p>\n

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The audience included Egyptian government ministers and businesspeople who joined the Bank Group\u2019s governors to celebrate the milestone.<\/p>\n

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Addressing the event, African Development Bank President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, said the occasion must provide the impetus for the continent to rise, challenges notwithstanding.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAfrica should lift itself economically, financially, and politically to surmount every hurdle in its way,\u201d Adesina said, stressing that the continent has abundant resources that, if well-managed, can help move it forward.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have great sunshine; we have water\u2026 we have 65% of the arable land left to feed 9 billion people worldwide by 2050. We have minerals and metals \u2013 80% of the world\u2019s platinum is in Africa, 50% of the world\u2019s cobalt is in Africa, 40% of the world\u2019s nickel is in Africa,\u201d the Bank chief reiterated.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He said there must be consistent efforts to bolster peace and security to attract foreign investment and expand trade.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He called on political and business leaders to put resources at risk behind Africa\u2019s young people, who he said, are very innovative.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cAfrica has young people that can grow bigger than Bill Gates; that can grow bigger than (Mark) Zuckerberg<\/em>,\u201d Adesina said, adding that the youth\u2019s potential is evident in the fintech industry, which young people dominate.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Adesina cited various human capital support programs being implemented by the Bank to prop up startups. These include its YouthAdapt program, initiated jointly with the Global Center for Adaptation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Adesina said the Bank is also setting up youth entrepreneurship investment banks across Africa to support young people\u2019s businesses. \u201cAfrica can have youth-based wealth, and to have that youth-based wealth, we need financial institutions around them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Africa should lift itself economically, financially, and politically to surmount every hurdle in its way<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

He mentioned some celebrated African professionals who have excelled abroad in diverse areas, saying the African diaspora is replete with talent that must be attracted to play a role in the continent\u2019s transformation agenda.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In his opening speech, Dr. Albert Muchanga, African Union Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals, paid tribute to African heroes who sacrificed to see the continent progress.<\/p>\n

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He noted that the continent\u2019s progress over the 60 years has been mixed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cAs we look at the road travelled 60 years ago, we can celebrate some achievements, and one key achievement is continental unity; we can also not deny that there have been setbacks, and one of the key setbacks is unconstitutional changes of government,\u201d Muchanga said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He said all is not lost, adding that there are high hopes for the new generation to drive the continent\u2019s future. \u201cThe youth are the innovators, and they are able to take advantage of emerging technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He said the AU had instituted schemes across all its departments, including a Junior Professional Program to equip young graduates. It also has a start-up program that complements youth initiatives implemented by partner organizations such as the African Development Bank.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dr. Muchanga mentioned the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area to foster trade policy harmonization and eventually transform the agreement into a common market that will lead to adopting a single currency union.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The event featured a panel of selected youth entrepreneurs from the continent who shared their experiences about their challenges while seeking financial support for their startups.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s celebration showcased rich African culture through music and dance as proceedings were interspersed with traditional and pan-African pop music, drawing attendees, including scores of youth, to the floor.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In an illustration, Egypt\u2019s Minister of Youth and Sports, Ashraf Sobhy, shared the successes of various initiatives implemented by his government to build the capacity of the youth. These include leadership programs involving the youth across the continent in partnership with the African Development Bank and Egypt\u2019s central bank.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sobhy called for further feasibility studies to assess the needs of the youth to provide the right environment for them to initiate critical projects for the continent\u2019s transformation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He said the Bank Group\u2019s 2023 Annual Meeting recommendations would be essential to carving a path for the youth, whom he described as \u201cthe tree of life for our continent.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Delegates attending the 2023 African Development Bank Group\u2019s\u00a0 (http:\/\/www.AfDB.org) Annual Meetings in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, celebrated Africa Day on Thursday amid hopes for better prospects for the continent and its youth.   The commemoration, which marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the African Union, allowed for retrospection by member countries on how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,346,366],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-culture","category-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}