President John Dramani Mahama has asked the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to \u00a0 address youth unemployment in the sub-region.<\/p>\n
Youth unemployment remains a major challenge in most African countries and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has warned that unemployment will continue to rise<\/strong> <\/span><\/a>in the coming years, as the global economy enters a new period.<\/p>\n [contextly_sidebar id=”SAYpOdWlTxT2CEDogZPgp5ZYz2EVqRQp”]Addressing the ongoing 47th<\/sup> Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and government on Tuesday morning, President Mahama, who is also outgoing chairman of \u00a0ECOWAS, called for wider discussions to address the challenge, in the face of an expanding youth population in the sub region.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that one of the major challenges facing our sub region \u00a0and not only our sub region but indeed \u00a0the whole of the world is the issue of youth and jobs and it is my hope that the ECOWAS Commission will take up this issue as an issue for discussion because the challenge for job creation for young people is going to be a challenge that faces every single country in our sub region.<\/p>\n “It is a situation that faces even the developed countries and especially for Africa considering that we have the fastest growing youth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Ebola is under control<\/strong><\/p>\n The President remarked that the year (2014) was\u00a0a challenging one for the African sub region as it was “tightly caught in the grips of an epidemic[Ebola]that was trying to spiral out of control.”<\/p>\n The outbreak of the Ebola virus disease affected, particularly the republics of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.<\/p>\n Nigeria, Senegal and Mali \u00a0took urgent measures to snuff out early cases that emerged in their jurisdictions.<\/p>\n Mahama revealed that Ebola outbreak has, to date “reportedly claimed about 11, 000 precious lives, especially in the three most affected countries.\u201d<\/p>\n He was however quick to add the sub region has the situation under control.<\/p>\n \u201cLiberia was declared Ebola free by the World Health Organisation(WHO) on Saturday 9 May, 2015 and with almost no reported cases in Sierra Leone and fewer and fewer cases in Guinea, we are looking forward to zero Ebola cases in the sub region in the next couple of months if not earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n Mahama commended all stakeholders particularly the government and people of Liberia for their \u201cperseverance\u201d resulting in the eradication of the disease in their country.<\/p>\n He however stated that African cannot celebrate until Guinea and Sierra Leone are also \u201ctotally free of the disease.\u201d<\/p>\n The Chairman expressed his gratitude to all the health workers and volunteers who worked in affected countries for their efforts and sacrifices in helping to overcome the disease.<\/p>\n Mahama recalled that while the initial response to the crisis was slow, \u201ceverything was thrown into the fight once the international response got underway. \u201c<\/p>\n He remarked that with the battle against Ebola almost over, Africans must now turn its attention to the challenges of the post Ebola era.<\/p>\n \u201cWe call on our multilateral and bilateral partners to once again step up to the plate and assist Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to rebuild their economic and social infrastructure. We call also for debt relief for those countries.\u201d<\/p>\n Boko Haram<\/strong><\/p>\n Speaking on the Boko Haram menace, Mahama said \u201clast year, Nigeria and Cameroon were caught in the grips of terrible attacks and atrocities by the terror group\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey freely attacked with impunity and abducted hundreds of women and children. The atrocities of this group have remained unsurpassed by any terrorist group in the world. Slaughters, beheading, torture, rape, abduction, bombings, looting and destruction of property have been the hallmark of this terrorist group,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n The President posited that though there have been measures to control the activities of the group, \u201cthe fight is however far from over as the release of the chibok girls have not been secured\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBoko Haram has shown that they still have the capacity to counter attack.\u201d<\/p>\n Nigerian Elections<\/strong><\/p>\n The Chiarman said successful elections in Togo and Nigeria sends a strong \u00a0message to the world that Africa\u2019s protocol on rule of law and good governance is becoming effective and entrenched.<\/p>\n He also commended President Goodluck Jonathan for showing maturity in the recently held Nigerian elections that saw his defeat.<\/p>\n \u201cLet me take this opportunity to highly commend our brother President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan of his personal show of matured statesmanship in the event that follow the Presidential elections.\u201d<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Marian Efe Ansah\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
\nFollow @EfeAnsah<\/a>
\n