Africa must tackle threats of unemployment - Elumelu

DigitalSENSE Business News:

Former chief executive officer of the United Bank for Africa (UBA), Mr Tony Elumelu, has tasked Africa entrepreneurs on tackling of the threats of unemployment, reports DigitalSENSE Business News.

Elumelu, who is an entrepreneur, philanthropist and chairman of Heirs Holdings Limited, a pan-African investment company, insisted that Africa must do more to tackle the threat of unemployment, which risks derailing Africa’s economic growth.

In an article published on Reuters  and made available to DigitalSENSE Business News, Elumelu advocated the launch of a comprehensive, coordinated approach similar to the ‘Marshall Plan’ implemented by the United States in Europe after World War II.

Also, he suggested that this Marshall Plan be built on the three interdependent ‘pillars’ of development: policy reform and a commitment to the rule of law; investment in infrastructure; and commitment to developing Africa’s manufacturing and processing industries.

Such a plan is needed, Elumelu highlights in the article, because of the continent’s demographic time bomb: 122 million Africans are forecast to enter the labour market by 2020, yet economists expect just 54 million new jobs to be created within the same period.

Elumelu’s investment philosophy, Africapitalism, encourage the public, private and development sectors working together with the objective of creating economic and social wealth, could provide a way to generate the jobs needed to keep Africa’s path to prosperity on track.

Nenye Dom/Ayo Omidele /GEE
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Pix: Tony Elumelu