The Unemployed Youth Bulge Of Ghana Is A National Security Threat

Almost 60% of Africa’s population in 2019 is under the age of 25 years. This makes the continent of Africa the world’s youngest continent. According to the United Nations population projections, the median age in Africa is going to be around 19.8 years in 2020. The reports indicated that in 2019, more than 1/3 of the population in Africa is aged between 15-34 years.

According to the International Labour Organization, Ghana has a youthful age structure with approximately 57% of the population under the age of 25 years. The source data are ILO estimates in 2019, the estimated youth unemployment rate in Ghana was at 9.16. The World Bank defines youth unemployment as “the share of the labor force ages 15-24 without work but available for and seeking employment”.

Below is the statistics from the organization.

Ghana youth unemployment rate for 2019 was 9.16%, a 0.37% increase from 2018

Ghana youth unemployment rate for 2018 was 8.79%, a 0.05% decline from 2017

Ghana youth unemployment rate for 2017 was 8.84%, a 2.55% decline from 2016

Ghana youth unemployment rate for 2016 was 11.40%, a 2.78% decline from 2015

The youth population of the continent and Ghana is its biggest resource. Africa’s growing youth population offers enormous potential. Sadly, these worrying statistics of unemployment keeps eroding that confidence.

Many factors account for this situation in Ghana. In Ghana, there is a widening incongruity between academia and industry’s needs. Training students in Ghana to acquire the competencies needed to fit in the present world of life and work has arguably been the greatest burden of Ghanaian universities. It appears that universities are finding it difficult in training students to be creative, thoughtful and proficient with their areas of study. University education amongst others is to equip students with employable and enterpreneuring skills at the various levels in the university curriculum. Unfortunately, our education system over the years has been turned into a political football. Many of the changes in our educational system are not led and championed by experts and those leading the charge in academia, rather, its political actors with little-to-no expertise in education. This periodic practice of tinkering of the education system has greatly contributed to the unemployment situation in the country.

The public sector of Ghana is choked with political cronies who bear allegiance to the appointing authority not the cooperate entity, Ghana. To even get an employment interview in many of these sectors and institutions, you need a politically exposed person to endorse your application. This has been the realistic and sad narrative in Ghana for years.

Many private businesses have been overburdened over the years in many facets, leading to laying off of workers. The epileptic electricity situation that occasionally visits us, the high cost of renting business operating space, the competition with foreigners who are willing to pay double, the exorbitant cost of credit, and the technical knockouts the cedi constantly suffers at the hands of its international counterparts etc., are few of the many challenges private businesses face.

In 2018 November, I witnessed how able young men quickly surrounded vehicles plying the Airport road through Shiashie route in the capital. I returned to use the Airport road in a month’s time and I saw the migration of these youth to the selling of daggers on the same route. I asked myself, should daggers and small knives be sold in traffic? And at that location? Since last week, I’ve read two scary stories of young men numbering 4 to 6 surrounding vehicles in traffic under the East Legon tunnel to beg for alms, and some bang and hit parts of the vehicle when denied by the occupants of the vehicle. This is not exclusive to Accra. It happens in most of our major cities.

This is dangerous and a national security threat for the country. Many of our leaders have described this situation as a ‘ticking time bomb’, which I agree. This bomb must de defused through a comprehensive plan not the yearly ritual of introducing youth employment modules that lead to large scale corruption, unmeasurable output that adds little-to-nothing to the growth of the country but the public debt stock.

As a country, we should place more emphasis on Technical and Vocational education. With the current industrialization drive in the country, technical and vocational education will make many graduates relevant. One major component of industrialization is skilled workforce to man the sector. Training modules by Youth Employment Agencies must be tailored to fit industry. They must be measurable and workers must be paid on time. Government should create the needed atmosphere for business to thrive and employ. Ghanaian businesses must also enjoy tax waivers as their foreign counterparts. Government as the biggest spender should lead by example by patronizing local products. All this dovetails into growing the private sector, the sector that holds the promise to absorb a chunk of the teaming numbers.

A 2017 report by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation notes that Africa was on the verge of losing its youth to political apathy, but also migration or extremist groups, and these words are still valid today. Ghana has in recent years had her youth recruited into militia and extremist groups. Hundreds of Ghanaian youth have died on the Island of Lampedusa and drowned in the Mediterranean Sea in their quest to seek greener pasture. Others are languishing in prions in foreign countries. What happened few years back in the Maghreb region should speak volumes to the Ghanaian politician. As Calvin Coolidge said ‘When a great many people are unable to find work, the society suffers’

Writer: Eugene Osei-Tutu

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