This piece is necessitated by the socioeconomic challenges facing Africa, coupled with the belief that the youth have an important role to play in stimulating growth in society. Of importance is the current global financial meltdown that is having a negative impact on major economies such as the American and European ones respectively. Also, the global financial crisis is affecting Nigeria, among other countries in Africa.
Ironically, the Western countries are providing stimulus packages to address the problem caused by the meltdown while African countries are not taking proactive measures to address the issue. In Nigeria, for instance, the stock market is failing and people are losing their hard-earned money. Companies are faring progressively worse; some of our banks are failing; there is a continued outflow of the capital initially brought in by foreign investors; and the foreign reserve is being affected. This is equally the trend in southern Africa. A distinguished journalist from Zimbabwe, Wallace Chuma said, “The feared global recession is beginning to bite South Africa, but the country is nowhere near changing course, at least not yet” ( Chuma ).
I must laud those Africa leaders who have risen to the challenge, even though their intervention is coming too late. Besides, their intervention packages are not exhaustive, comprehensive or coordinated, and they are half-hearted, to use the words of a columnist, Idowu Akinlotan, in the Nation newspaper. The people are not carried along and to me the package is like another white elephant “paper”.
Sadly enough, when an issue of this magnitude is not addressed in time, the coming generations suffer most, just like when HIV/ AIDS was discovered in 1981. Back then, there were prompt responses by the West to stem the tide. To a large extent they have helped in mitigating the consequences of the epidemic, but Africa started to respond sometime in 1990. The effect is that, even the children, who are the future in any society, are the missing face of HIV/ AIDS in Africa. As a result, over 100,000 children are in need of HIV/ AIDS treatment in Nigeria alone.
The question one would want to ask follows: Do we lack the manpower or machinery to properly steer the affairs of the continent in the direction of the “Promised Land”? I would say no. We have these resources, but we don’t have the right crop of leaders. We need leaders who have foresight, vision, purpose and plans for the people alive today, let alone for those of the yet unborn generation. Bringing these leaders into being starts in the home, the smallest unit of government.
As young people across the continent of Africa, we cannot sit down and watch:
- “Some self-inclined individuals (leaders) who are not sincere and proactive in stemming the present global recession. Just like in my country, they are busy planning to share our foreign reserve to build some white elephant project.”
- “Some people giving us conflicting reports about our place in the present recession all because they want to remain in office against public interest”.
The battle cannot be won through an armed struggle, but we must reposition ourselves to be seen as responsible, responsive, determined, diligent, forthright, disciplined, proactively involved in the democratic process at all levels, ready to challenge the status quo through intellectual contest and prepared to form a formidable synergy of young people that will speak as a voice to the voiceless youth in Africa.
Thank you for reading. Please continue to send in your suggestions and comments. Kindly spread the message to people in your homes, streets, market places, motor parks, churches, mosques and town halls. By this means, Africa will become a better place to live in.
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