Feature

Africa’s young population could be its greatest asset in an age where many other regions in the world are aging as a result of declining birth rates.
Many things have been said about the future Africa and its potential, it has been called the Opportunity Continent, the Next Frontier and Africa rising, with all of these true. For me the excitement comes in how Africa can, and will one day lead in the digital economy, not only creating a better future for its young people, but for people across the entire continents, whether here in Africa or elsewhere like in Europe or the US.

Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange control over $1trillion worth of Africa’s resources in just five commodities – oil, gold, diamonds, coal and platinum. My research for the NGO, War on Want, which has just been published, reveals that 101 companies, most of them British, control $305billion worth of platinum, $276billion worth of oil and $216billion worth of coal at current market prices.

As a student of mass communications in the late 80s, one of my elective subjects was introduction to Sociology. My lecturer then was Dr Sam Ibeabuchi, a well-groomed and elitist scholar whose trademark was his immaculate appearance. His students called him "the dapper professor".  We all looked forward to his lectures and I must say that some of us fervently waited to see his perfectly manicured mustache, his well knotted tie and his matching pocket square. He sure knew how to choose his suits.

Migrants receiving assistance from the IOM in Senegal (file photo).

On December 10th, under a purpose-built tent in Marrakesh, Morocco, representatives from more than 150 countries affirmed their shared vision of a future in which migration is safe and beneficial for all. The significance of this moment should not be underestimated. Migration remains one of the most intractable of all international issues: we know perfectly well that cooperation is the only realistic way forward. But vast differences in interests and priorities has, until now, made substantive progress almost impossible.

On December 10, 2018 the Global Compact for safe, orderly and regular migration was adopted in a historical event in Marrakesh. Civil Society Organizations all over the world welcomed this new multilateral framework – and will monitor its implementation.
In our video the Secretary General Antonio Guterres, emotionally explains the Global Compact for Migration to the media. The large majority of states just adopted the document, offering a framework for migration governance and to address in solidarity the huge challenges migration constitutes on our planet.

Photo credit: IOM 2017/Amanda Nero

Africa’s population is growing at an astonishing rate. By 2050, the number of people on the continent will climb to 2.5 billion. By the same year, the United Nations predicts that nearly half of the countries in Africa will double their populations. While regions such as Europe have virtually stopped growing, Africa’s population growth shows no signs of slowing.

A profound lack of growth opportunity, rising unemployment and declining human security in many African countries, has rekindled the debate about the continent’s development strategies.  The economies, despite being endowed with large natural resources, got stuck in severe difficulties in the 1980s and adopted exogenously imposed structural adjustment programs (SAPs) to revive growth.

Campaign posters flood Abuja

In this piece, Abdullah Dass examines the preparations for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential primary and the chances of party in next year’s general elections.

It is generally believed that President Muhammadu Buhari has a near unshakeable stranglehold on the electorate in the North, especially in the Northwest zone consisting of Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Jigawa, Sokoto and Zamfara States.