Youth from across the continent, under the umbrella organisation One Campaign ,are advocating for a raft of urgent and bold policy actions to tap into their potential towards building a better and prosperous Africa. The call comes off the heels of the highly anticipated Africa Union (AU) Summit on Industrialisation and Economic Diversification, slated for this month in Niger. This also comes at a time Africa is recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic and grappling with after-shocks from global economic and political events. With its booming young population, Africa’s youth account for 60 per cent people who are jobless. The continent hence needs to create about 15 million new decent jobs yearly. One Campaign, a global movement campaigning to end extreme poverty and preventable disease by 2030, called for African leaders and policy makers to commit to a number of priority actions that are critical for driving economic prosperity and job creation through industrialisation. First, they said, governments should implement national industrial policies that stimulate investments into sectors that are both competitive and labour-intensive. It was also highlighted for national policies to provide for well-targeted tax incentives that can attract investors and spur job creation, avail policy reforms to reduce tariffs on the importation of essential machinery and equipment that are not locally created, and national level legislation to establish equity and guarantee funds to de-risk investment in start-ups. Laws should also protect intellectual property rights, simplify and automate administrative procedures, harmonise tax administration, and make information readily available through one-stop digital platforms. At the local level, smallholder farmers should be facilitated to produce aggregation centres for grading, storage, sales and processing of their goods to boost incomes and minimise wastage. They should also be facilitated to access credit, subsidised loans, grants and financial services. Regionally, the top priority is for countries to foster investment and trade by operationalising the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Trading under the continental free trade pact was launched in January 2021. Once fully implemented, AfCFTA will create a single African market for goods and services, covering about 1.4 billion people with a combined gross domestic product of more than 2.5 trillion U.S dollars across Africa. A second priority action highlighted is the need to improve the business environment to make it easy and affordable to produce goods and services, and to trade. African countries can start by adopting AU protocols on free movement, allowing youth to access markets and compete freely for work and business across national borders. The third priority action is to invest in cleaner infrastructure that supports industrialisation, jobs creation and income generation. Expanding road and transport networks will also open up connectivity to rural areas and the regional hinterland. Whereas clean, renewable off-grid energy solutions can complement national plans to improve access to reliable and affordable power. And to reduce the digital divide, countries should incentivise investments to achieve 90 per cent internet penetration across Africa by 2030.
