Urbanization
and the unprecedented surge of a youthful population are re-defining Africa in
irreversible ways. Hence, Africa’s future is inextricable bound to its youth
and cities. The unresolved question however, is what kind of cities is Africa
building and what does the future hold for Africa’s youth?
Africa’s
youth are in the vanguard of what many economists and Afro-optimists have
described as Africa Rising. In many
ways what has characterized Africa rising is the surge of demand for goods and
services and the inevitable spending by a youthful urban population.
Nairobi’s
emergence as the IT innovation central and Africa’s most intelligent city is
courtesy to Kenya’s indomitable youth. The youth have quickened the pace of Dar-es-Salaam,
a city once characterized as laid back and easy.
Africa is the most rapidly urbanizing region
in the world. However, Africa’s urban age is characterized by uncontrolled sprawl; expansion of slum
settlements; lack of water and poor sanitation; hunger and malnutrition;
gridlock and inadequate investment in public transportation an; weak
institutions for urban governance. The
World Bank cautions that Kampala could become a mega slum in the next 10 years
if no action is taken to improve the quality of infrastructure and commercial
investment. Can Africa harness the urban age and drive rapid and equitable
economic transformation?
According
to IMF, Africa’s working age population will reach 1.25 billion by 2050.
Furthermore, this rapid growth in Africa’s potential labor force means that it
must create 450 million new jobs for new workers projected to join the
workforce between by 2035. Potentially, the rising share of Africa’s
working-age population could put its competitive advantage beyond the reach of
any other continent or sub-region.
How well are we
preparing young people for a competitive globalized knowledge economy
where basic literacy and numeracy alone just won’t do? Honestly, not very
well.
Over 38% of
Africa’s children aged below 5 years are stunted. Research shows that compared
with normal children, stunted children: score 7 percent lower on math tests;
are 19 percent less likely to be able to read a simple sentence at age 8, and
12 percent less likely able to write a simple sentence; and, are 13 percent
less likely to be able to be in the appropriate grade for their age at school.
Moreover, 7-16 per cent of grade repetitions are associated with stunting.
Here are some
worrying observations from Kenya. About 1.3 million children enrolled in
primary school in 2007. Only 880,486 completed primary 8. A staggering 417,483
children dropped before end of primary school. In the 2014 KCPE examinations, only
432,000 or 34 percent of 1.3 million children enrolled in primary one in 2007
scored above the average 250 marks, good enough to join high school. Such a low
level of transition to high school is unconscionable. Moreover, according to Education Cabinet Secretary
Jacob Kaimenyi confirmed that 2 million children are out of school.
But it gets worse. There
is a mismatch between the skills that young people offer and the ones that employees
need. Employers are flooded with applications but complain that they cannot
find candidates with the right abilities. And here is the evidence. On average
56 percent of students graduating from East African universities lack basic and
technical skills needed in the job market. In short, 56 percent of our
graduates are half-baked. This sobering finding was revealed in May 2014 in a
study conducted by the Inter-University for East Africa (IUCEA) and the East
African Business Council (EABC) to establish employers’ perceptions of
graduates.
In South Africa,
uneducated youth are unemployable and enthralled in an orgy xenophobic violence
against fellow Africans. Jobless rates among young black South Africans is
probably 55 percent. In Nigeria, staggered by the winds of unemployment and
discontent young Africans are vulnerable to the virulent ideology of hatred
served by homegrown terror cells like Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab. Millions of
Africans, mainly from West Africa, the Sahel and Eritrea either perish in the
desert or drown in the Mediterranean Sea as they try to migrate for Europe for
work and a chance to live their dreams.
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