Elumelu Canvasses Job Creation, Inclusive Growth For Africa’s Growth
UMORU ABDULKADIR
Founder, Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) Tony Elumelu has canvassed job creation for the youth, inclusive growth, and gender diversity as priority areas for Africa’s development agenda for peace and stability on the continent.
Elumelu while speaking on a high-level panel with Macky Sall, President of Senegal, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, President of Mauritania, Defense Minister of France, Florence Parly, former President of Burundi, Pierre Buyoya as well as representative of the African Union in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, harped on the urgent need in tackling poverty, which he described as the the root cause of extremism in Africa.He said: “We know, and we say, that poverty anywhere is a threat to mankind everywhere. What manifests itself in what we call security breakdown or terrorism, or extremism is actually deeply rooted in poverty, in joblessness So with due respect, we can have 101 seminars like this but unless and until we begin to address these issues of poverty, joblessness amongst our young ones, they will continue to allow themselves to be brainwashed by people who see no future, and they will continue to engage in extremism.”
While admitting that acquisition of weaponry and other warfare instruments in fighting extremism is very important in curtailing the scourge of insurgency in the continent, he however stressed that, a lasting peace can only be attained in the long run by investing in our young people across Africa.
Elumelu cited the impact of the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s $100 million Entrepreneurship Programme as one of the practical ways the private sector in Africa can intervene to bring about peace and stability on the continent.
Speaking further, he referenced the partnership between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) to empower 100,000 young Africans in 10 years with a focus on the Sahel region for its first year. He added that the TEF was also in partnerships with other international development agencies such as GIZ and ICRC.
Stressing the need for various economic interventions in the continent to reduce the level of poverty and ensure collective prosperity, Elumelu reiterated that only “activities and interventions like those of TEF will help bring economic hope to people in Africa, thereby making them less involved in extremism.
“We support these young ones and we are beginning to see how their successes are translated into better and more secure communities,” he said.
Elumelu who is also UBA Chairman noted that businesses cannot flourish where there is extremism and people are afraid for their lives, pointing out that it would even be harder to attract the global private capital needed for large infrastructure projects and long-term investments which can help to fix our economy to an area with security challenges
He therefore, called on all stakeholders to work together to win the war on poverty and insecurity. He said, “There is a lot we all can do – the private sector, government, and development partners – in making sure that we focus on winning the war on terrorism; that we make sure we stem the migration of our young people crossing the Mediterranean through harsh conditions, in search of hope, when indeed we have more opportunities and resources in our continent. We need to work together to ensure that extremism is totally annihilated in Africa. It is possible but we need to work together to achieve this.”
On his part, the President of Senegal, His Excellency Macky Sall, agreed to the need for the public sector to collaborate with the private sector to tackle poverty on the continent. He said: “Addressing the threats cannot be done on a standalone basis due to the fact that the challenges know no borders”. He called for a more collaborative approach to assuage violence and extremism to boost investments in Africa.
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