During the RCM meeting in Abuja, I raised a certain question to the panel which was chaired by the African Union Commission Chairperson Dr. Dlamini Zuma. As we were discussing Pan-Africanism in the context of #Agenda2063 I thought that young people across the continent should be so involved in this discussion as they are the ones who will carry this vision for the next 50 years. Very few older people will be alive in 2063. I asked what the AU was doing to actively engage the youth in such dialogues and well, I got a few answers from the panel. But this morning when I received an email from Washington, Bureau of International Information Programs I got very concerned. The US government under this bureau is running a certain program called Young African Leaders Network (YALN) where they are engaging young Africans on various issues. Last week (26th March) they had a Skype engagement where over 8000 young Africans Participated. There is another Skype meeting on 7th April which will focus on entrepreneurship and am sure the number of participants will escalate. This should be a major concern to the leadership of this continent. Why should the US government be engaging our young people at such a high level while our leaders just seat and watch? Can you imagine almost 10,000 young Africans every week giving their loyalty to the US as they feel the US government is more concerned about their affairs. Then you tell this same young people about being pan-africanists. Nature abhors a vacuum and the US is moving in to fill the vacuum. Its time for the AU to rise to the occasion! Youth involvement should be key as we progress with #Agenda2063
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 08:24:35 +0000
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