AfDB boss challenges African gov'ts to create jobs

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has challenged governments in Africa to play a leading role in providing jobs for Africans.

President of the AfDB, Akinwumi Adesina said this at the 5th Tony Elumelu African Entrepreneurship forum in Abuja, Nigeria on Saturday.

“We have market failure, the current market system doesn’t provide financing to them (population of Africa), and you have governments that are not playing their roles enough and that’s why we are producing so many people that are just jobless.What I want to propose today is this, that it’s time for African Leaders, African Governments to begin to shift from youth empowerment to youth investment”, Adesina lamented.

Senegalese President Macky Sall, Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame were among dignitaries at the forum.

“If you have knowledge, if you have invested in a skill, if you are investing in an infrastructure, what do you do with that? If what follows it is to get a business, is do ing business, is entrepreneurship,is peoples creativity and innovation that has to be put into play,’‘ Kagame said.

This year’s Tony Elumelu Forum was focused on ‘‘Empowering African Enterprenuers’‘.

“What we do at the Tony Elumelu Foundation is just to create this kind of platform for all of you, give you the opportunity to interact with our leaders and give you little capital to help you prove your ideas so that people and young ones don’t go to grave with their ideas, we want to see you succeed”, Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation said.

The African philanthropist plans to create 10,000 enterprenuers across the continent with his initiative.

AFP