A Nigerian lawyer and Executive Director of the Lift Africa Foundation, Aisha Hamman, has urged African governments to adopt governance-based approaches to addressing the continent’s youth employment crisis.
She made the call at the 2025 World Bank Group (WBG)–International Monetary Fund (IMF) Civil Society Policy Forum in Washington D.C., where she spoke on a high-level panel titled “Advancing Homegrown Economy through Sustainable Infrastructure and Skills Development in Africa.”
Hamman said Africa’s unemployment challenge goes beyond economics, describing it as a governance and investment issue that demands political will, financial innovation, and institutional accountability.
She noted that the time had come for governments to “move from policy papers to implementation pipelines,” stressing that youth employment strategies must be backed by data-driven results rather than political rhetoric.
According to her, African nations needed to strengthen the link between policy and practice by creating national youth employment delivery units that coordinate across key ministries — such as education, labour, and innovation — to ensure clear accountability.
She also called for a reimagining of development financing to move beyond short-term programmes and channel resources directly into community-based enterprises and innovation hubs that empower young people to create sustainable livelihoods.
Hamman further emphasised the importance of aligning public training initiatives with private sector demands, ensuring that young people acquire skills that match industry needs.
In her view, this partnership between government, business, and civil society would bridge the gap between education and employability.
Equally, she underscored the need to involve local governments and traditional institutions in co-creating inclusive solutions that prioritise youth and women-led initiatives at the grassroots.
Finally, she called for transparent monitoring systems that measure tangible outcomes — such as the number of youths gaining meaningful employment — rather than focusing solely on budgetary allocations or disbursement volumes.
Citing successful models such as Kenya’s Ajira Digital Program and Nigeria’s Andela and Flutterwave, Hamman said Africa has already demonstrated the capacity to deliver scalable, youth-driven innovations.
What is needed now, she added, was a governance framework that sustains and expands such impact.
“Africa is not just consuming innovation — we are exporting talent, not tragedy,” she said.
“Our future depends on aligning governance, skills, and enterprise with the realities of a new global economy.”
Under Hamman’s leadership, the Lift Africa Foundation has been instrumental in promoting equity, justice, and inclusive governance across Nigeria through legal reform, civic empowerment, and social accountability programmes aimed at building stronger institutions and widening opportunities for young people.
