Okonjo-Iweala at Ehingbeti, says Africa’s success lies in job creation for its youth

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director-general of World Trade Organisation (WTO), says the success of Africa lies in creating jobs for the youth. 

Okonjo-Iweala, said this on Tuesday, during her opening remarks at the 2021 Lagos ‘Ehingbeti’ Economic Summit.  

In her first major outing as the director-general of WTO, she said the issue of unemployment is a very big issue among African countries and this leads to social vices that are detrimental to the continent at large. 

“One of the most important things a successful Africa should look at is the demographics of the continent,” she said. 

“When you have 60 percent or more of your population that is 30 years old and younger then you have to worry about job creation. 

“A successful Africa is an Africa that is able to create jobs (decent work) for its citizens. 

“This means we have to concentrate our minds on how we create modern, decent jobs for our young people and we have a great opportunity to do that.”

Okonjo-Iweala said what is limiting Africa in creating jobs for the younger generation is that the continent is a raw material-based economy. 

“Majority of Africans are still exporting primary products like fossil fuels, minerals (diamonds, tin, copper) or agriculture products (cocoa and coffee). 

“We have to get from a position of where we are exporting raw materials to a position where we are adding more value.”

She said the way forward in actualising this is for Africa to become an industrialised continent and proposed that Africans should pursue manufacturing. 

“Africa imports more than 90 percent of pharmaceutical products that we use in the continent, that’s a big gap so there is an opportunity to manufacture these products. 

“We have a market of about 1.3 billion people equivalent to China or India. And with the African continental free trade area (AfCFTA), this aims at common market, free borders where it can actually work. 

“This means that Nigeria, including lagos, should look at how they can take advantage of such a big market to make Nigeria not just a consumer centre where other people send goods but a big manufacturing centre where we send goods to other countries.”

Okonjo-Iweala also said Lagos state government must make investments in modern infrastructure, including renewables and green/clean energy. 

“We need to do the infrastructure of the future right, way beyond roads and ports to telecommunications infrastructure and broadband access as we also need electricity and energy.

“Although, we have started building refineries, which could have been done years ago, we also need to build further on becoming a greener economy.”

However, Okonjo-Iweala said modern infrastructure in Lagos can only be achieved when it has sustainable and steady supply of electricity.