To stop the trend of brain drain plaguing the continent, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) urge Nigeria government, to generate high-quality jobs for their hordes of unemployed youth.
At the 12th Convocation Lecture and Second Veritas University Digital Innovations Exhibition in Abuja on Friday, Adesina declared that Nigeria was losing its brightest minds to the Japa syndrom.
Nigeria sizable youth an asset
Jerrymusa.com reports that Speaking on the theme of “Africa, It’s Your Time” for the convocation talk, the former minister of agriculture charged Nigeria with using its sizable young population as an asset rather than a liability.
Following his honorary doctorate from the university, the former minister of agriculture declared that Nigeria and ten other African nations would be among the Desert-to-Power, a $20 billion bank endeavour.
He mentioned that the goal of the power project was to generate 10 GW of solar electricity, which, when finished, would make it the largest solar zone on Earth.
He included Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, the Gambia, Guinea, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Eritrea, and Senegal as additional nations to gain from the programme.
Africa does not lack money
Additionally, he declared Veritas University to be an AfDB Centre of Excellence for Computer Coding for Employment.
Africa doesn’t lack money. Africa is deficient in viable ideas. Recall that brilliant ideas will always be rewarded with money,” he remarked.
“As you enter the workforce, technology and artificial intelligence will become increasingly important to your personal and professional lives.
“I anticipate that many of you will offer imaginative solutions using data aggregation and analytics for many of our problems. The digital and smart economies of the future present enormous prospects.
“I personally care about all of this because I do not want to see the ongoing outflow of young people who, at all costs, risk their lives to go across land and sea to reach Europe.
The implementation of audacious, goal-oriented industrial manufacturing initiatives is the quickest path for Nigeria to significantly increase the wealth of its economy, generate employment, and give its youth respectable employment opportunities.
He said, “This will quickly increase foreign exchange earnings, raise per capita income, and give millions of its young people high-quality, well-paying jobs.”
Nigerian Youth keep pushing Africa
Adesina urged young people in Nigeria and around Africa as a whole to dream once more, all the while pushing Africa to yield the world’s largest treasures of uranium, nickel, copper, platinum, diamonds, cocoa, cobalt, and lithium.
He asserts that despite possessing the biggest solar potential deposit and 65% of the world’s arable area, such resources have not translated into economic prosperity for the continent.
According to Prof. Hyacinth Ichoku, the university’s vice chancellor, the number of undergraduate students enrolled has risen from 1,200 in 2018 to nearly 6,000.
Additionally, Most Rev. Matthew Kukah, the institution’s pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council, exhorted the graduating students to represent the university well.
Kukah announced a N3 million donation as a way to support the university. for the three pupils who presented their ideas to the class.