Experts: Insecurity is Limiting Innovation, Economic Growth in Africa

Emma Okonji

Business leaders and experts, African creatives, policy makers, digital champions, including leading entrepreneurs from diverse industries, have raised the concern over insecurity across African countries, insisting that insecurity has become a big threat to businesses, thus limiting innovation and economic growth.

The experts, who spoke at a business forum in Lagos at the weekend, explored new ways Africa could secure its future by unlocking the power of its youth, culture, and the creative economy.

Organised by Africa Soft Power in collaboration with the Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, and African Women on Board, the business forum focused on the intricate relationship between digital platforms, technology adoption, youth empowerment, and creative entrepreneurship.

According to them, even as the creative and knowledge industries offer immense opportunities for young Africans, there are still threats out there – and high on that list is insecurity. The absence of security is one of the factors limiting innovation and economic growth in many areas of the continent.

Founder and Creative Director of Africa Soft Power, Nkiru Balonwu, said: “As a country and as a continent, it is imperative to include young people and women in every leadership space. From #endsars, to #Congoisbleeding and other several social movements that the continent has witnessed in recent years, we have seen what happens when we do not provide the needed inclusion and security for women and young people.”

One of the panelists, who is the Commissioner of Finance and Economic Development in Ekiti State, Akintunde Oyebode, said: “The challenge of security in Nigeria is a hydra-headed problem, in some parts of the country, there’s major kidnappings ongoing, in other parts, there is a drug problem, but at the heart of it all is a clear admission that state capacity has been waning for a while and has gotten to a point where it is simply incapable of responding to social issues.”

Another panelist, who is the Founder and CEO Glann Media Consult, Njideka Agbo, maintained that lack of security and inclusion, were responsible for the brain drain in Nigeria and parts of Africa.