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Following a six-month-long consultation process across seven African countries that account for a third of the jobs in the continent, the 40 organizations behind the coalition warned that the continent is at the tipping point of what could be the economic breakthrough from the pandemic, but only if investments are made now to prioritize jobs creation and harness the potential of youth. Information Guide Nigeria

Edwin Ikhuoria, Executive Director for Africa at the ONE Campaign, said: “The African continent is facing an unprecedented unemployment crisis that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. We cannot afford to keep turning a blind eye to this pressing issue that has fueled the rising instability and insecurity across the region. Many of our youth are discouraged and slowly losing their spark and excitement for the future, andiIt’s shameful that not more is done to support them. jamb results

“Too much is at stake for us to continue with the current business-as-usual approach. Job creation must not be an afterthought but rather, tackled alongside other priorities such as pandemic recovery, healthcare, and education.”

Roy Telewa, Chief Executive Officer at the National Youth Council, Kenya said: “The population of young people is growing faster than the ability of the continent to create job opportunities for them, and the gap is widening. That’s why #JobsNowAfrica is the contemporary discussion to have.

“How do we harness the growing population of young people to bring about a demographic dividend? Once we’re able to answer that, talking about how we raise incomes in our homes, expand our savings and investment and expand our productivity, #JobsNowAfrica is the solution for young people, to inform strengthening our governments – institutions specifically – to improve our infrastructure and promote near and long term job creation and opportunities for young people in order to bridge the gap between the rising population and viable employment that brings about a demographic dividend for our continent.”

Pearl Thusi, South African Actress and Ambassador for the #JobsNowAfrica campaign said: “Africa has been a contradiction for far too long! A rich continent with poor people! We have so many resources but very limited opportunities.

“We provide the world with raw materials and import finished goods – giving our jobs away to other continents. This has to stop! Before Covid-19, we thought we had a major problem of joblessness, but when the pandemic hit, we saw an increasing crisis of job losses. Africa lost more than 20 million jobs at the peak of the crisis.

“To the extent that people preferred to be infected than to be hungry because of job loss. Africa needs at least 15 million new decent jobs every year for its young people. Africans have spoken! Quality jobs more than any other issue should be the priority for governments. This is why the JobsNowAfrica coalition is putting jobs back at the top of the agenda.”