Job creation in Africa will be linked to stability on the continent. So says the Nepad CEO who was addressing a forum on Innovative Solutions to Job Creation for Africa’s Youth on the side-lines of the UN’s Africa Week in New York.

Dr Ibrahim Mayaki also pointed out that for Africa to deal with the 300 million unemployed youth, it would require structural transformation and industrialization of economies that is focused on rural areas.

Some 300 million African youth will require jobs in the next 15 years - what he called the principle challenge facing African policymakers today.

Mayaki says, “Job creation will be linked to stability. The more we create jobs for these 300 million who are already there, the more we will stabilize the continent. So, this issue has repercussions. First of all, in terms of governance systems because I don’t think we’ll be able to govern our countries are before. We’ll need a stronger implication of the youth because they are the majority of the population.”

75% of Africa’s youth is under the age of 25 with between 250 and 300 000 coming onto the employment market annually for a median sized African country with a population of 25 million.

“Structural transformation, the structural change of our economy will need to take into account that huge bulk of population, young, that is in rural areas in order to think about transformation. So the structural transformation would need to be based on rural transformation, which leads to industrialization in order for us to build a manufacturing capacity.”

"Mathematically, 95% of the leadership of the continent will no longer be in place. So, your task as former heads of state is to help build that emerging leadership that will really trigger the change we want in Agenda 2063." 

He pointed to the importance of Science and Technology Innovation that could leapfrog other regions and the significance of leadership willing to implement policies towards the continents Agenda 2063.

“In Agenda 2063, the most important issue will be the leadership issue. We’ll need leaders who understand to think long-term; who understand to think bottom up; who understand to create the necessary jobs; who understand that the solutions we’ll need to provide in terms of infrastructure, will need to be regional solutions.”

Pressed on Africa’s ageing leaders, where the average age is reportedly 78 years old, as an impediment to innovative thinking, Dr. Mayaki says, “President Obasanjo, President Konare, President Mbeki, they invited me last year in Pretoria. Well, the Chair of the Africa Union Commission asked me to talk to them on Agenda 2063 and it’s one of the things I told them. They asked ‘how can we be useful as former heads of state?’ I told them in the next 10 years, ‘mathematically, 95% of the leadership of the continent will no longer be in place. So, your task as former heads of state is to help build that emerging leadership that will really trigger the change we want in Agenda 2063’. So this is my honest response.”

Dr Mayaki also addressed the question of African insecurity as an impediment to the continent’s industrialization and social and economic transformation. But he was quick to point out that only 5% of African today find themselves in war-zones and lauded the AU Commission's quick response to emerging conflicts.