Mustapha Ussif
THE MINISTER for Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, has called for deepened interaction and networking among ministers and youth of African countries to share knowledge and ideas towards the development of the continent.
The minister, speaking at the launch of this year’s YouthConnekt Africa held last Thursday said while it was important for the youth of the continent to network, there was also the need for government ministers from across the continent to meet regularly to share ideas.
“While connecting the youth, we must also connect ourselves as ministers so we share experiences in building our respective countries. We must not wait for a year before we connect. We must connect right away so that we can improve and create the necessary environment for the youth of Africa to thrive,” he stated.
He added, the African youth has massive potential which when given the needed environment and platform, would excel in all fields.
Governance & Leadership
Assistant Administrator and Regional Director for Africa, UNDP, Ahunna Eziakonwa on her part highlighted the need for leadership to ensure that “we secure the future of Africa by creating the enabling environment for the African youth to prosper.”
She said there was the need for African governments as well as youth to imbibe in them the culture of accountability, integrity and transparency.
She also called for the institutionalising of the YouthConnekt Africa Summit so that it does not have to depend on a few people to organise, saying this would enable us have it on regular and a more institutional basis.
Commendation
She went on to commend Ghana for hosting the event for the first time outside its original host country, Rwanda, saying, “this is lesson and proof that we can do it.”
She said going forward, the event must feature the personal commitment of heads of African states to support the event to provide the platform for African youth to meet and interactions with decision makers.
“I think we need to make that a criteria for hosting this summit going forward. We need to create the environment for the youth to meet with decision makers,” she suggested.
Summit
The YouthConnekt Africa Summit is an annual convening that connects youth from across the continent and beyond with policy influencers, political leaders, and public, private and development sector institutions to engage, discuss, design, and accelerate youth empowerment efforts at a continental level.
In addition, every year the summit intends to create a platform for a larger number of young people from all over the continent to learn and engage in YouthConnekt Africa’s youth development programme.
This year, the summit, themed: “Positioning African Youth to Cater for the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) Market”, aimed at addressing a variety of youth issues related to economic, social, and political empowerment of youth in Africa.
By Nii Adjei Mensahfio