President Goodluck Jonathan, on Friday, in Addis Ababa alongside other African heads of states, said it was imperative to empower the youth and women with education and entrepreneurial as well as financial skills in order to enable them take up their leadership roles in Africa’s future within the next decades.
Speaking at a plenary session on the role of leadership in the development of the continent at the World Economic Forum on Africa summit holding in the Ethiopian, the president noted that one of the major hindrances to the emergence of African youth and women in leadership, especially in politics and governance, was financial incapacitation even for the educated ones.
“A major challenge is the financial capacity to seek leadership positions”, he said noting that salaries from paid employment cannot fully fund a young man or woman’s desire for political office in a typical African environment.
He said that in Nigeria, during the past election, it was a herculean task trying to pressure the ruling party to field 50 per cent female candidates, and that the refusal caused him to appoint more women into his cabinet within the quota allowed him by the law.
Jonathan said that his administration was doing more to encourage the youth and women by granting them access to funds through the You-Win Programme.
President Ali Bongo of Gabon, who spoke on the same issue said: “African women are probably our best chance for success tomorrow”, adding that women were more honest and less corrupt in leadership positions.
He further challenged African leaders to “focus on education for youth and women”. “Do not fear the youth and women because in many cases we fear them,” he said. “We should engage them in dialogue and we will learn more from them.”