The first Euro-Africa Youth Parliament conference ended in Berlin last Thursday with a call on African governments to invest in sustainable education of the youth.
The nine-day conference brought together delegates from 51 countries in Africa and Europe to discuss governance issues, including constitutional affairs, industry, technology, research, energy, culture and education.
The delegates, who were divided into eight committees, presented resolutions at the general assembly of the conference where they defended and debated the various issues.
Invest in the youth
Speaking on the sidelines of the closing ceremony, the Chief Executive of the Youth Bridge Foundation, Mr Seth Oteng, said African governments should invest in sustainable education for the youth in order to tap into the potential, skills and competences of the future leaders.
Currently, he said, sustainable education which gave opportunity to the youth and even adults to acquire the needed skills and knowledge for the labour market was important.
Mr Oteng also encouraged the youth to invest in themselves and recognise the importance of education.
The expectations
Touching on the conference, Mr Oteng said the first Euro-Africa Youth Parliament was a great success and expressed the hope that Africa would have a youth parliament very soon.
He said the conference served as a platform for the African youth to do more research into the issues and build on their competencies as they had to compete with their colleagues who had had series of such sessions.
During the closing ceremony, the President of the session, Mr James Benge, urged the participants to share their knowledge when they got back to their countries.
Considering the distance between the various countries, he said the gap could be bridged with such platforms, networking and the sharing of ideas.
Experiences
In an interview with some of the delegates, they expressed their gratitude to the organisers for such a platform which brought together the youth from diverse cultures and ideas.
Mr Ebenezer Nii Martey from Ghana said: “it was an interesting programme and I really enjoyed the detailed and well-informed discussions during the work of the committees and the general assembly”
Ololade Aminat Opadare from Nigeria said: “I am really happy to have participated in the first ever Euro-Africa Youth Parliament conference; I have made a lot of friends and the delegation from Nigeria would ensure that the resolution was presented to our policy makers”.
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