The Chairman, United Bank for Africa Group, Mr Tony Elumelu, has said the only solution to the challenges facing communities and countries in the Sahel region, including Nigeria, is for people to be empowered.
He warned that poverty anywhere remained a threat to people everywhere, noting that there was the need for collective effort to find a lasting solution to the intractable crisis in the region.
The countries in the Sahel include Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Sudan and Eritrea.
Speaking during the hybrid launch of ‘Generation Unlimited Sahel: A leap for Sahel Youth’, Elumelu, noted that the event was to mobilise key partners to address the critical role of youths in contributing to peace, security, stability and economic growth in the region.
Elumelu, who highlighted the various ways the Tony Elumelu Foundation that he founded had empowered many young people in the region, added, “Generation Unlimited (GenU) Sahel will upscale youth programmes and initiatives in the Sahel region under the aegis of the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Coordinator for the Sahel and the GenU CEO.
“The public and private sector will partner with youths to connect 100 million Sahelian youths, 50 per cent of whom are young women, to skilling, employment, entrepreneurship and social impact opportunities by 2030.
“More than two million people in this region have been forced to flee their homes, with millions more losing their sources of livelihoods. Resources are scarce and opportunities are limited, leading to even more tensions and conflict between communities in the Sahel.”
“A collective effort is needed to find a lasting solution to this intractable crisis. Empowering and investing in our people, especially our young ones in the Sahel, to give them economic hope and opportunity is the only solution.”
At the event hosted by Adebola Williams and Tamara Oge Elumelu, those who gave remarks included the President of Niger Republic, Mohamed Bazoum; the Prime Minister of Belgium, Mr Alexander De Croo; Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, Ms Amina Mohammed; Executive Director of UNICEF, Ms Henrietta Fore; UNDP Administrator, Mr Achim Steiner; Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mr Moussa Faki Mahamat; and the UN Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth, Ms Jayathma Wickramanayake.
SOURCE : PUNCH
