The National Youth Authority (NYA) has reaffirmed its commitment to positioning young people as drivers of Africa’s economic integration, as its Chief Executive Officer, Osman Abdulai Ayariga, Esq, outlined bold policy priorities at the African Prosperity Dialogue.
Speaking to policymakers, business leaders, and development partners, Mr Ayariga highlighted the growing urgency of youth entrepreneurship amid rising unemployment across the continent. He observed that for many young Africans—particularly in creative and digital sectors—entrepreneurship is no longer optional but a means of survival.
He pointed to Ghana’s recent Black Star Experience as a strategic intervention that signalled the country’s intention to treat culture as economic infrastructure and creativity as enterprise capable of driving tourism, jobs, and global engagement.
At the institutional level, Mr Ayariga emphasized that the NYA’s mandate under the National Youth Authority Act, 2016, reinforced by the National Youth Policy 2022–2032, places creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, and global engagement at the centre of youth development.
He announced that the National Apprenticeship Programme, currently under implementation by the NYA, is designed to formalise skills acquisition, align training with real value chains, and prepare young people for opportunities beyond national borders under AfCFTA.
“This programme is not about numbers but direction—from informal skills to recognised competence, from domestic employability to regional competitiveness,” he explained.
However, the NYA CEO warned that skills without mobility become “stranded assets,” stressing the need for the effective implementation of the Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons. He also called for stronger intellectual property protection and financing structures for creatives, supported by private sector collaboration.
Mr Ayariga concluded that AfCFTA’s success depends on whether Africa’s youth and creatives are empowered to shape it.
“AfCFTA will either be shaped by Africa’s youth, or it will underperform. There is no third option,” he said, adding that the NYA will continue to position young people not as beneficiaries of integration, but as its architects.
