President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, while disagreeing with the idea of youth empowerment, said youth investment is the only key to unlock the envisioned potentials of youth.

Speaking during an interview on the sidelines of the just-ended World Bank/International Monetary Fund Annual Meetings in Washington DC, Adesina said:

“I don’t believe in youth empowerment, at all, because when you say you have empowered somebody and then you train them but there is no financing, investments for them to grow their businesses, what is the good of that? So, we must move from youth empowerment to youth investment”.

He went on to add, “we must invest in the youth and unlock their potential. That’s why I have been saying that we need to have youth entrepreneurship and investments banks specially developed, and dedicated to young people; where a young person would enter, and they feel at home; they feel welcomed because it is fully dedicated to them”.