The Founder, Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) and Chairman, United Bank for Africa Group (UBA), Tony Elumelu has proposed job creation, and inclusive growth, as priority areas for Africa’s development agenda to achieve peace and stability on the continent.
He spoke while on a high-level panel with President of Senegal, Macky Sall and President of Mauritania, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani. Other speakers on the panel included Defence Minister of France, Florence Parly and former President of Burundi and representative of the African Union, Pierre Buyoya.
Elumelu stressed the urgency in tackling poverty, the root cause of extremism in Africa.
He said: “We know, and we say, that poverty anywhere is a threat to mankind everywhere. What manifests itself in what we call security breakdown or terrorism, or extremism is actually deeply rooted in poverty, in joblessness So with due respect, we can have 101 seminars like this but unless and until we begin to address these issues of poverty, joblessness amongst our young ones, they will continue to allow themselves to be brainwashed by people who see no future, and they will continue to engage in extremism.”
He said while it is important to discuss weaponry, and other means to deal with insurgency, a lasting peace can only be attained in the long run by investing in our young people across Africa.Elumelu cited the impact of the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s $100 million Entrepreneurship Programme as one of the practical ways the private sector in Africa can intervene to bring about peace and stability on the continent.
Speaking further, he referenced the partnership between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) to empower 100,000 young Africans in 10 years with a focus on the Sahel region for its first year.
Referring to TEF partnerships with other international development agencies such as Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ )and International Committee of the Red Cross( ICRC), Elumelu said: “activities and interventions like this will help to bring economic hope to people in this part of the world and they will become less involved in extremism.
“We support these young ones and we are beginning to see how their successes are translated into better and more secure communities.”
