By Abdu Kimera
President Yoweri Museveni has advised youth across Africa to embark on prosperity for all and strategic security, because this will create a united strong African continent.
Museveni was officiating the third African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Youth Symposium at the Commonwealth Resort in Munyonyo on Tuesday this week.
In what he categorized as missions one and two Museveni highlighted that getting prosperity means solving problems of underdevelopment not through donations but by producing goods and services to sell.
“When you create wealth here, you should also create a framework for the wealth to be sustainable and this can be achieved through market integration because once this is done produced goods and services will be consumed out by Africa’s population hence business growth ” Museveni added.
Joyous Museveni also hinted at the need for the continent to secure itself against all threats.
According to Museveni, ancient Kings and chiefs couldn’t defend the continent because they failed to cooperate amongst themselves and the current youth of these times should learn from this that nothing can be solved without uniting.
“If you want to be of value for the continent you must deal with the issue of either political unity or foundation amongst all the African countries” Museveni emphasized.
To fulfill this mission according to the president, youth have to be patriotic, pan-Africanists, embracers of change, and also be democratic.
In her remarks, Prime Minister Robinah Nabanja urged the youth to embrace and establish enterprises that can benefit themselves through government-funded programs like youth livelihood, emyooga, and others such that the great havoc of unemployment among the youth can also be eliminated.
“Education is also key amongst the youth because an educated population provides the needed labor and innovations that help to create jobs” Nabanja added.
The third APRM that started on 4th July was organized under the theme “Repositioning the Youth Agenda for a Transformative Continent and it will run up to 9th July 2022.
This year’s symposium was organized with the main aim of brainstorming and getting solutions on how the “one million initiative” can be further strengthened and implemented.
Amos Lugolobi who is the APRM focal point in Uganda highlighted that the aim of this Peer Review Mechanism is to foster the adoption of policies, standards, and practices leading to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development, and accelerated region and economic integration which is to be achieved by identifying efficiencies and accessing the capacity building needs of participating countries.
This year’s symposium was iconic because it happened when the African Union is celebrating 20 years since its formation.
The event was graced by dignitaries from the African Union, the European Union, and delegates from all over the continent