Outgoing President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr Akinwumi Adesina, recently disclosed that the challenge facing many African youths is the mismatch between the education they receive and the skills they need for the labour market.
He said for the youths to strive, Africa must create the right environment on the continent, adding, “This must start with providing Africa’s youth with globally competitive quality education.”
Adesina stated this while speaking as the special guest lecturer at 14th convocation lecture of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) in Abuja, with the theme, ‘Advancing Africa’s Position within Global Development and Geopolitical Dynamics’.
“We must prepare our young population for the rapidly changing world of the digital economy through upskilling in digital skills,” he said.
Adesina said despite gains made over time, the majority of Africa’s youth still fall behind on education, citing an example by comparing Japan to Africa.
He said, “While 98.9% of the youth in Japan have completed secondary education, only 43% of the youth in Africa complete secondary school education. In terms of higher education, the gap is stark. While 60% of the youth in Japan are pursuing higher education, only 10% of Africa’s youth enrol in higher education.
“Among those pursuing higher education, African youths are less enrolled in the educational fields that are dominating the world.”
He further said, while 30 per cent of Japanese youth in universities pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics, less than 25 per cent of students in sub-Saharan Africa are in these fields.
“This puts Africa behind in terms of its preparedness for the 4th industrial revolution, especially in fields such as artificial intelligence, robotics, automation, and cloud computing, which are revolutionising the world,” he said.
He, however, said to change this, the African Development Bank is working with the African Union to establish a $300 million African Education, Science and Technology Innovation Fund and has also supported several universities of science and technology to address the gap.
“As of March 2024, the African Development Bank approved close to $682 million for projects to upgrade the skills of the youth. The bank plans to provide additional financing of $809 million in 2024/2025 in support of projects for skills and employability of the youth in Africa.”
He, however, noted that across Africa, the upgrading of digital skills and education is being fast-tracked by the youth themselves with access to smartphones.
“This includes online micro-credentials in different fields with platforms such as Coursera. For example, Coursera estimates that over 2/3 of the learners from Africa access their education for skills upgrade using smartphones and tablets, which it says is the highest level in the world,” he added.
Adesina said the bank is also supporting a coding for employment programme, which will establish 130 centres of excellence across Africa.
Akinwunmi Adesina’s 10-year tenure as President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) comes to an end in few days, as new President, Mr. Sidi Tah who was elected on 29 May 2025 during the 2025 Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Bank in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, is set to resume.
