Tony O. Elumelu, CON, Chairman of United Bank for Africa, Heirs Holdings
\nand Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation speaks to 21,000 youth at the
\nJoshua Generation International Youth Conference at the University of
\nNigeria, Nsukka.<\/p>\n
The Chairman of the United Bank of Africa (UBA), Mr. Tony Elumelu, has
\nstressed the need to unlock the potential of youths in Africa, in order
\nto catalyse the socio-economic development of the continent.<\/p>\n
According to Elumelu, youth restiveness remains a ticking time-bomb in
\nthe continent, noting that countries in the region continue to face
\nissues around extremism, banditry, robbery, senseless killing,
\nkidnapping and political thuggery, among others.<\/p>\n
The Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation said this in an address he
\ndelivered to 21,000 youth at the Joshua Generation International Youth
\nConference organised by the Anglican Church at the University of
\nNigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, yesterday.<\/p>\n
He pointed out that Africa is the world\u2019s youngest continent, saying
\nthat almost 60 per cent of the country\u2019s population is under the age of
\n25.<\/p>\n
In Africa, youths of 35 years and under are estimated to constitute 70
\nper cent of the population of the country, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, the jobless rate in Nigeria has now risen to about 30 per cent
\nin March 2021. Some states have as high as 56 per cent of all their
\nyouth population as unemployed. In Africa, the situation is not much
\ndifferent: We have 65 per cent of all Africans below the age of 35 and
\nmany of these people are not gainfully employed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Covid-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns have exposed the
\nvulnerabilities in our population structure. We now have, as a
\ncontinent, the largest young generation in history \u2013 this youthful
\npopulation is Africa\u2019s hope, it is our pride and it is our potential.
\nThe urgency and need to unlock the potential of this generation is
\nimperative for the security of our collective future.\u201d<\/p>\n
To the Chairman of Heirs Holdings, to address this challenge, there is
\nneed for a high sense of urgency, a dissatisfaction to what is happening
\npresently as well as a commitment to improving things.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must accept that we face a crucial period in our history where youth
\nissues must be the main and central issue of our time. Millions of our
\nyoung people are entering the job market every year; and 20 million jobs
\nare needed to be created annually to absorb new entrants in the labour
\nmarket. Only about three million formal jobs are being created annually
\nacross Africa and this was even before the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic
\noutbreak,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
While speaking on the power of entrepreneurship, Elumelu said: \u201cFor me
\nand my colleagues at UBA, at TEF and the across the HH Group, we have
\ncome to believe that entrepreneurship-the power of entrepreneurship- is
\nkey to harnessing the potential of these young Africans<\/p>\n
\u201cBy so doing, we secure our own future. This comes from our own
\nexperience, first as entrepreneurs ourselves. And secondly as people
\nthat have committed a lot of resources at TEF (capital, time, personnel)
\ntin helping create a new generation of African entrepreneurs. We are
\nhelping to give economic hope and opportunities to young Africans. And
\nwe speak as people that do this in Africa but in all 54 African
\ncountries, the TEF intervention cuts across all sectors and gender
\nacross the 54 African countries because we believe that prosperity
\nshould be shared as much as possible across board and that poverty
\nanywhere is a threat to us all everywhere.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThe enormous potential of our youth, we must prioritise our support for
\nsmall-scale businesses. Corporate organisations do well in employing
\npeople but there is a limit on how much corporates can do in employing
\nthe huge numbers of our unemployed youths. Therefore, capacitising and
\nsupporting small businesses, empowering our young ones and their
\nbusinesses, in our own view is the most powerful means to reduce
\nunemployment on the continent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Elumelu in his remarks commended the Nigerian Government with regards
\nits approach to taxes for micro, small and medium sized enterprises
\nstating, \u2018I must commend the Federal Government for the good work in the
\narea of tax waivers for Micro-businesses. Tax friendly policies that
\nencourage our entrepreneurs are necessary and much more is required, but
\ngood work has been done and the government should be commended.\u2019<\/p>\n
Elumelu: Youth Restiveness Ticking Time
\nBomb for Africa, Others<\/p>\n
Tony O. Elumelu, CON, Chairman of United Bank for Africa, Heirs Holdings
\nand Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation speaks to 21,000 youth at the
\nJoshua Generation International Youth Conference at the University of
\nNigeria, Nsukka.<\/p>\n
The Chairman of the United Bank of Africa (UBA), Mr. Tony Elumelu, has
\nstressed the need to unlock the potential of youths in Africa, in order
\nto catalyse the socio-economic development of the continent.<\/p>\n
According to Elumelu, youth restiveness remains a ticking time-bomb in
\nthe continent, noting that countries in the region continue to face
\nissues around extremism, banditry, robbery, senseless killing,
\nkidnapping and political thuggery, among others.<\/p>\n
The Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation said this in an address he
\ndelivered to 21,000 youth at the Joshua Generation International Youth
\nConference organised by the Anglican Church at the University of
\nNigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, yesterday.<\/p>\n
He pointed out that Africa is the world\u2019s youngest continent, saying
\nthat almost 60 per cent of the country\u2019s population is under the age of
\n25.<\/p>\n
In Africa, youths of 35 years and under are estimated to constitute 70
\nper cent of the population of the country, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, the jobless rate in Nigeria has now risen to about 30 per cent
\nin March 2021. Some states have as high as 56 per cent of all their
\nyouth population as unemployed. In Africa, the situation is not much
\ndifferent: We have 65 per cent of all Africans below the age of 35 and
\nmany of these people are not gainfully employed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Covid-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns have exposed the
\nvulnerabilities in our population structure. We now have, as a
\ncontinent, the largest young generation in history \u2013 this youthful
\npopulation is Africa\u2019s hope, it is our pride and it is our potential.
\nThe urgency and need to unlock the potential of this generation is
\nimperative for the security of our collective future.\u201d<\/p>\n
To the Chairman of Heirs Holdings, to address this challenge, there is
\nneed for a high sense of urgency, a dissatisfaction to what is happening
\npresently as well as a commitment to improving things.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must accept that we face a crucial period in our history where youth
\nissues must be the main and central issue of our time. Millions of our
\nyoung people are entering the job market every year; and 20 million jobs
\nare needed to be created annually to absorb new entrants in the labour
\nmarket. Only about three million formal jobs are being created annually
\nacross Africa and this was even before the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic
\noutbreak,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
While speaking on the power of entrepreneurship, Elumelu said: \u201cFor me
\nand my colleagues at UBA, at TEF and the across the HH Group, we have
\ncome to believe that entrepreneurship-the power of entrepreneurship- is
\nkey to harnessing the potential of these young Africans<\/p>\n
\u201cBy so doing, we secure our own future. This comes from our own
\nexperience, first as entrepreneurs ourselves. And secondly as people
\nthat have committed a lot of resources at TEF (capital, time, personnel)
\ntin helping create a new generation of African entrepreneurs. We are
\nhelping to give economic hope and opportunities to young Africans. And
\nwe speak as people that do this in Africa but in all 54 African
\ncountries, the TEF intervention cuts across all sectors and gender
\nacross the 54 African countries because we believe that prosperity
\nshould be shared as much as possible across board and that poverty
\nanywhere is a threat to us all everywhere.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThe enormous potential of our youth, we must prioritise our support for
\nsmall-scale businesses. Corporate organisations do well in employing
\npeople but there is a limit on how much corporates can do in employing
\nthe huge numbers of our unemployed youths. Therefore, capacitising and
\nsupporting small businesses, empowering our young ones and their
\nbusinesses, in our own view is the most powerful means to reduce
\nunemployment on the continent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Elumelu in his remarks commended the Nigerian Government with regards
\nits approach to taxes for micro, small and medium sized enterprises
\nstating, \u2018I must commend the Federal Government for the good work in the
\narea of tax waivers for Micro-businesses. Tax friendly policies that
\nencourage our entrepreneurs are necessary and much more is required, but
\ngood work has been done and the government should be commended.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tony O. Elumelu, CON, Chairman of United Bank for Africa, Heirs Holdings and Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation speaks to 21,000 youth at the Joshua Generation International Youth Conference…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":79554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-news"],"yoast_head":"\n