Okonjo-Iweala Challenges African Leaders On Job Creation

The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has challenged African leaders to put in place measures that will address the glaring inequalities on the continent.

The minister who spoke during one of the sessions of the World Economic Forum on Africa, identified security, unemployment and infrastructural development as one of the issues that must be prioritised if the young and vulnerable must feel the impact of government.

The minister said “we recognise that Africa is not rising for everybody; that some people are left behind” adding that “there is inequality, we have been growing and the society has become more unequal and we have realised and recognised that we are not creating enough jobs for the number of jobs needed and some have fallen off the train; those at the bottom end of the ladder”.

She further noted that “these challenges are longer term” insisting that “right now we also face the short term

challenge of security and that has to be dealt with. To be able to have good development, you need to be in a secure environment”.

“That is why we have to do the maximum to bring our girls home, it is vital that we do the maximum to once again make Nigerians feel confident and safe in themselves” adding that “those are the short term challenges we must deal with”, she said.

Okonjo-Iweala however noted that “some of the long term challenges that we have to deal with is reversing inequality and also lifting those at the bottom end of the ladder. That can also not be forgotten because some of them will help us make sure that issues such as are occurring now will not happen.

“So we need to do in parallel two things, one, deal with short term problems but at the same time tackle the longer term ones” she said.

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