THE REALITY FACING THE 21ST CENTURY YOUTH
IN AFRICA- THE THOUGHT OF A GHANAIAN YOUTH.
The phrase “The
youth are the future leaders of Africa” is one of the most common phrases every
youth who have had the opportunity to listen to a development lecture or a
seminar by a renowned person or youth coach in Africa has ever heard.
This
phrase seems to suggest that, the survival of the African continent largely
depends on the actions and inactions of the youth. This phrase seems to give so
much hope to young Africans as the youth is made to believe to be the heirs of the
continent. However, in spite of this
soul satisfying words, the African youth is confronted with lots of realities.
It is indeed
true that, the 21st century African youth has to face this realities
of life.
The reality of
having to spend over 25 years in school only to graduate to join a long queue
of unemployed graduates.
The reality of surviving based on “who knows you”.
The reality that
politics seem to be the easiest way to make it in life.
The reality of
being told as a youth to be creative and innovative when the systems and
structures suggest otherwise.
The reality of
having to undertake internships and volunteering opportunities in order to
survive but hardly get employed.
Just as it is done in most schools, the
lecturer on the first day seeks to engage the students, know their background
and how to effectively meet the expectations of students. In one of my
post-graduate lessons, the lecturer got in and after the class introduced ourselves,
almost 75% of the class aside national service have never been gainfully
employed before. The lecturer on a lighter note said. “Eiiiiiii, this is strange, so you all came
back for your master’s degree because you couldn’t find jobs? However seeking
knowledge is better than engaging in this political vigilantism and unnecessary
social vices”. These words have always
comforted my heart as I ponder over what to do with my life after my post
graduate program with this reality facing the African youth.
As young
persons, some of the favorite motivational quotes we were told include.
“Education is
surely the key to success”
“Seek first the
kingdom of education and all others shall be added up unto you”
Most African
youth ask themselves if education is no longer the key to success or whether
the padlock to success has been changed. This is due to the reality that, some
graduates with PhDs and master’s degrees are struggling to survive.
The youth have
been promised heaven in political party manifestoes. We would have settled for
“Garden of Eden” or even considered “earth” but the sad reality is that, it
seems hell is what is being delivered.
With all these
realities staring at our faces, surviving seem to be difficult but can we give
up?
Do we want the
next generation after our generation to face these woes?
It took the
efforts of the youthful intelligence of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and Nelson Mandella
among others to lead the struggle for independence. It took the charisma and
bravery of Jerry John Rawlings and Thomas Sankara among others to restore hope
and confidence in their countries. The youth have done it in the past and surely we
can do it again.
This is the time
for us as African youth to eschew and abandon unnecessary acts that destroy and
decay the future of our continent. Say no to political vigilantism, drug abuse,
illicit trading, internet fraud and other social vices.
What gives me
hope as an African youth is the fact that;
There are many
of the youth who are studying seriously to acquire knowledge to address the
problems confronting our continent.
There are a
thousand of youth working effortlessly to earn a decent living
There are so
many youth out there, thinking and making efforts to kick start their own businesses
and enterprises to address the high rate of unemployment.
There are many
elderly who have devoted themselves to train, equip and impact positively on
the youth on how best to make it in life.
There are several donor funded projects and interventions equipping the youth to develop feasible solutions to our problems.
As African
youth, we should be willing and ready to make and learn from our own mistakes
rather than being in our little corner hoping for bread to fall from heaven.
To my fellow
Ghanaian youth and all other youth across the continent, as we ponder and
resolve to take up roles and innovative ideas as youth to change the fortunes
of this continent, let us always keep in mind a very common marching song
during our basic school days.
“Arise Ghana
youth for your country; the nation demands your devotion; Let us all unite to
uphold and make our nation great and strong. We are all involved.”
Kwame Ohene-Ntow
YALI DREAM,
A BETTER GHANA,
A BRIGHTER
AFRICA.
The writer is a
graduate student of Development Policy and Planning at KNUST and an alumnus of Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI).
Email: vincentntow12@gmail.com
Facebook; Kwame Ohene-Ntow
May, 2019
Great write up!
ReplyDeleteI believe, though it might take longer than we hope, we can figure a way out of this.
Keep the posts coming!
The onus is upon the youth to be creative and initiative. As you rightly said, it is about "who you know" and who knows who you know...
ReplyDeleteAccording to www.statssa.co.za/bloomberg, he unemployment rate in Africa's most-industrized economy is above 20%. Africa must indeed rise. Thanks for such an educative article keep it up.
As Myles Munroe would say " manna doesn't fall forever". I agree perfectly to your lamentations about the problems of the African youth, but as you noted in the penultimate paragraph, the youth must be ready willing to make and learn from their mistakes, instead of leaving their future in the hands of of fate or "God" as we're often encouraged in our mostly hopeless Sunday sermons.
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