{"id":150923,"date":"2025-02-16T08:53:39","date_gmt":"2025-02-16T07:53:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/nigerias-ex-president-jonathan-urges-africa-to-harness-youth-potential"},"modified":"2025-02-20T16:13:09","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T15:13:09","slug":"nigerias-ex-president-jonathan-urges-africa-to-harness-youth-potential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nigerias-ex-president-jonathan-urges-africa-to-harness-youth-potential","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria\u2019s ex-President Jonathan urges Africa to harness youth potential"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Nigeria\u2019s former President Goodluck Jonathan has called on African leaders to see the continent\u2019s youth as a generational force for innovation, leadership, and global competitiveness rather than a burden.<\/p>\n<p>Jonathan made the call in a statement on Saturday, seeking investments in initiatives that positively impact young people.<\/p>\n<p>This was part of his keynote speech in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the launch of a report titled Advancing Inclusive Development: Policy Options for Burkina Faso, Guinea, Gabon, Mali, and Niger.<\/p>\n<p>The ex-president charged African nations to invest in education, digital infrastructure, and skills development to harness the potential of the continent\u2019s youth for global competitiveness and leadership.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe must shift from seeing demographics as a challenge to embracing it as a strategic advantage. Our youth must be seen as an asset, not a burden,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He emphasized that investing in education, digital infrastructure, and skills development was no longer optional but imperative for Africa\u2019s future prosperity and stability.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, while Africa remains the world\u2019s youngest continent and a fast-growing economic frontier, it continues to struggle with deep-seated structural weaknesses.<\/p>\n<p>He stated that the challenges include governance deficits, political instability, economic fragility, and the lasting effects of external shocks.<\/p>\n<p>He advised African leaders to prioritise inclusion and economic empowerment to foster political stability and sustainable development across the continent.<\/p>\n<p>Jonathan stressed that Africa\u2019s future must not be left to chance, insisting that governance must be rooted in legitimacy, inclusion, and responsiveness to citizens\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n<p>To address instability, he urged leaders to take decisive action in building a strong, self-reliant, and prosperous continent through wise governance and economic investment.<\/p>\n<p>He, however, warned that political stability cannot be sustained without trusted institutions, the rule of law, and leadership that derives its legitimacy from the people.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. Nigeria\u2019s former President Goodluck Jonathan has called on African leaders to see the continent\u2019s youth as a generational force for innovation, leadership, and global competitiveness rather than a burden. Jonathan made the call in a statement on Saturday, seeking investments in initiatives that positively impact young people. This was part of his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":150922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[1635,254,425],"class_list":["post-150923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-jonathan","tag-nigeria","tag-youths"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Nigeria\u2019s ex-President Jonathan urges Africa to harness youth potential - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nigeria\u2019s former President Goodluck Jonathan has called on African leaders to see the continent\u2019s youth as a generationa ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nigerias-ex-president-jonathan-urges-africa-to-harness-youth-potential\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nigeria\u2019s ex-President Jonathan urges Africa to harness youth potential\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nigeria\u2019s former President Goodluck Jonathan has called on African leaders to see the continent\u2019s youth as a generationa ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nigerias-ex-president-jonathan-urges-africa-to-harness-youth-potential\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-16T07:53:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-20T15:13:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/sm_1739683528.672339.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nigerias-ex-president-jonathan-urges-africa-to-harness-youth-potential#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nigerias-ex-president-jonathan-urges-africa-to-harness-youth-potential\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Nigeria\u2019s ex-President Jonathan urges Africa to harness youth potential\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-16T07:53:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-20T15:13:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nigerias-ex-president-jonathan-urges-africa-to-harness-youth-potential\"},\"wordCount\":321,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nigerias-ex-president-jonathan-urges-africa-to-harness-youth-potential#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/sm_1739683528.672339.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"jonathan\",\"Nigeria\",\"youths\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nigerias-ex-president-jonathan-urges-africa-to-harness-youth-potential#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nigerias-ex-president-jonathan-urges-africa-to-harness-youth-potential\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nigerias-ex-president-jonathan-urges-africa-to-harness-youth-potential\",\"name\":\"Nigeria\u2019s ex-President Jonathan urges Africa to harness youth potential - 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