The army of unemployed young people in Africa constitute a threat to the peace and stability of the continent, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has said.

The Ghanaian leader noted that such young people are targeted for recruitment by terrorist groups and, therefore, urged African leaders to provide the youth with jobs so that their energies can be mobilised for the development of Africa.

Speaking at the High-Level AU Retreat on Peace and Stability in Africa in Accra, Ghana, on Thursday, 25 October 2018, Nana Akufo-Addo urged African leaders to transform their economies to provide opportunities and hope for the youth to live dignified lives.

“We are required to pay urgent attention to the bubbling volcano that is the army of the young unemployed. The World Bank tells us that in 40 African countries, over 50 per cent of the population is under the age of 20. Indeed, the median age across the continent is stated to be 19 years and five months; that is a lot of young energy that can be mobilised for the development of the continent,” he said.

“We must create the opportunities for jobs for our youth or they risk becoming instruments of instability or targets of recruitment by terrorists. We have to provide them with access to education; we must transform the structure of our economies from the raw material producing, exporting economies to value-added and industrialised economies, which will provide opportunities, jobs and hope to our young people to live dignified productive lives,” he added.

Nana Akufo-Addo also urged African leaders to promote and develop on the continent, a system and culture of accountable governance free of corruption, whereby Africans are governed in accordance with the rule of law, respect for individual liberties and human rights and the principles of democratic accountability.

This, he believes, will contribute significantly to the growth and development of the continent.