Happy AU Day To Africa's Younger Generations!

Today is AU (African Union) Day. It has been this blog's recent tradition to make it a day on which it focuses on  particular aspects of the lives of the continent's amazingly gifted younger generations that are of interest to us.

This year, as Ghanaians celebrate AU Day, one hopes that going forward into the not too distant future, instead of making the day a public holiday, those who lead our nation will decide to make it a special day when Ghanaians will go to work as usual; but donate their salaries for the day to an e-commerce technology fund for young Ghanaians from disadvantaged backgrounds in both rural and urban Ghana.

The idea is to have a technology fund that offers scholarships that  pay for training, which enables deserving young people from that particular demographic throughout Ghana, to have the requisite skills sets to enable them to leverage opportunities in the global digital economy for themselves.

There is no question that Africa is destined to impact the world positively at some point soon: The talent pool available in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa is simply astonishing and impressive.

It never ceases to amaze me, when  I encounter Ghana's younger generations, to discover just how incredibly gifted so many of them actually are.

Brilliant, young and gifted is the phrase that often comes to mind in such interactions - which sums up the impression I left Ashesi University College's serene Berekuso hilltop campus with, for example, after my interactions there recently with some faculty members and students, on what was my very first visit to that citadel of Ghanaian innovation underpinned by ethics and good governance principles.

The whole of the continent must take advantage of the brilliance of Africa's younger generations. It is they who will transform Africa - not the wily outsiders who come bearing gift-packages designed  to keep us dependant on others till the very end of time.

The task now for the AU and the  continent's leaders,  is to ensure that young Africans  can live and work anywhere in Africa, which they elect to because somehow it is a place that attracts them.

Naturally, in an age when terrorist organisations have networks with  global footprints, it will be necessary to prevent terrorists from exploiting such a continent-wide freedom of movement policy.

Those in charge of security in the AU's member states ought to make it possible to track the movements  of all young Africans seeking to live and work outside their home countries, once they leave home.

Towards that end, there ought to be a database that contains information about  young Africans registered biometrically, both in their own countries, and the sister African nations they opt to reside and work in.

Nkrumah's Ghana ought to lead a transformative continent-wide bordeless free-movement  initiative to bring the continent's youth closer together. One hopes that our nation's current leaders will take that up.

Happy AU Day to Africa's brilliant and gifted younger generations!