Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambique’s president, Daniel Chapo, appealed to the nation’s youth on Monday to utilise the internet and information technology to create jobs and reduce youth unemployment, rather than focusing solely on “memes”.
“I was very happy when I saw that Generation Z is asking for megabytes. If those megabytes were used for work, that would be very good. The problem is when those megabytes are only used to make memes,” said Mozambique’s president and leader of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, the ruling party), during the opening of the 2nd ordinary session of the Mozambican Youth Organisation (OJM, Frelimo’s youth organisation) in Maputo.
Without downplaying the appeal of such humorous content, widely shared on social media daily, he said that young people had to use the internet and information technologies to create jobs in the country, thereby helping to reduce unemployment rates.
“Memes are good for your health. We all tend to laugh, and laughter is good for your health, but if the megabytes are put to work, that’s very important,” he said.
The technological acceleration of the 21st century should be viewed as an opportunity rather than a threat, he said, describing digital platforms as powerful instruments for social mobilisation, knowledge sharing, and community building.
“Artificial intelligence, dear young people, cloud computing, the digital economy, the automation of production processes and e-commerce platforms are reshaping the world’s economies at an unprecedented speed,” he added, saying that countries that have managed to position young people at the heart of technological transformation were on the right side of history.
The others, he said, had condemned themselves to growing structural dependence on more advanced economies.
Speaking at the opening of the meeting, Chapo urged young people not to use digital tools to undermine governance, calling on the OJM leadership to use this tool in the process of building consensus and collective growth.
“That is why we are committed to integrating digital skills training into the education system at all levels, to create incentives for the development of domestic technological solutions, and to build partnerships that will enable us to accelerate the training of young people in this field,” he concluded.
