Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), has voiced concerns over Nigeria’s ‘Japa’ trend, where young professionals emigrate in search of better opportunities. In an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on April 10, 2025, Adesina described this migration as a significant loss for both Nigeria and the African continent.
Adesina emphasized that African youths require substantial capital to transform their entrepreneurial ideas into successful businesses rather than small-scale empowerment programs. He stated, “Young people don’t need freebies; they don’t need people saying: ‘I just want to give you an empowerment programme.’ They have skills, they know, they have entrepreneurship capacity, and they want to turn their ideas into great businesses. What young people need is not those empowerment programmes; they need capital, they need you to put your money at risk on their behalf.”
Highlighting Africa’s demographic advantage, Adesina noted that the continent is home to over 465 million young people aged between 15 and 35. He warned that failing to invest in this demographic could turn a potential asset into a liability. He asserted, “Africa should not turn what should be its demographic asset into somebody else’s problem due to the inability to believe in young people and invest in their ideas for continental prosperity.”
Adesina also addressed the role of the financial system in supporting young entrepreneurs, criticizing its current structure. He remarked, “The whole of the banking system is not designed for young people. The commercial banking system and the financial system failed young people in Africa.”
To tackle these challenges, the AfDB has initiated the Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Bank, aiming to mobilize resources to support youth-led businesses. Adesina highlighted a recent approval of $100 million for the Nigerian Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Bank to mobilize $2 billion to support over 38,000 youth-led enterprises.
In conclusion, Adesina expressed his belief that the future of African youths lies within the continent. He stated, “I do not believe that the future of our young people lies in Europe; it doesn’t lie in America, it doesn’t lie in Canada, Japan or China; it should lie in Africa growing well, growing robustly and able to create quality jobs for our young people.”
