As May draws to a close and Africa commemorates Africa Day, the message this year cannot be missed: Africa’s future will be determined by how it treats its youth. It is time to stop speaking of young people as future leaders and start acknowledging them as current architects of the continent’s trajectory. The youngest population in the world lives here. Over 60% of Africans are under the age of 25. That is not a side note to development, it is the headline.
Yet, too many institutions continue to treat Africa’s youth as a risk to be managed rather than a resource to be embraced. The political language of inclusion remains largely symbolic. Youth representation is often tokenistic. And policies, when they do arrive, are frequently reactive,out of sync with the speed, creativity, and urgency of the generation they are meant to serve.
Africa Day reminds us of who we are, what we’ve overcome, and what remains possible. It is a celebration of identity and culture, yes, but it must also be a reckoning. Because a continent that sidelines its majority cannot prosper. A strategy that excludes its most connected, most innovative citizens is not a strategy, it’s a warning.
There is no credible African future that can be built without its youth at the centre. They are not waiting. They are already defining what it means to be African in a global context. They are building apps that respond to local needs, amplifying community voices through social platforms, disrupting stagnant systems, and telling stories the world is finally listening to. They are not asking for space. They are taking it,often without the safety nets or support they deserve.
This is a generation that does not just understand power. It understands access. It is digitally fluent, globally aware, and locally grounded. And it is tired of being talked about rather than talked to.
Too many national strategies are still built through an analog lens in a digital world. Designed in offices that do not reflect the energy of the streets. Passed down through hierarchies that no longer hold legitimacy. There is a growing disconnect between institutions and the people they claim to serve, and the gap is most visible among the youth.
When young people are ignored or dismissed, they do not become passive. They become disillusioned. And when disillusionment grows, people look elsewhere, to other systems, other economies, other continents. The brain drain is not just about money or opportunity. It is about belief. If young Africans do not believe they can thrive at home, they will build lives elsewhere. And that is a loss no policy can reverse.
The creative industries, fashion, film, music, design, have shown the world that African excellence needs no permission to shine. Afrobeats now fills global arenas. African fashion lines international runways. Our filmmakers are winning awards. But cultural pride must not replace economic power. Visibility without agency is not enough. Africa’s youth must not only be celebrated for their creativity,they must be trusted with responsibility, resourced to lead, and invited to co-create the systems of power they will inherit.
This isn’t about charity. It’s about clarity. The stakes are high. Africa’s demographic advantage could transform the continent, or it could deepen existing fractures. What happens next depends on how seriously we take youth leadership,not in name, but in practice.
Youth councils with no influence are not enough. Entrepreneurship panels without capital are not enough. Internships that lead nowhere are not enough. Inclusion must be real. Youth must be consulted at national and county levels during budgeting cycles,through open town halls or structured civic platforms. They must be involved in co-creating public policy,not as token observers, but as voting stakeholders in constitutional reviews, legal reform processes, and national dialogues.
Kenya, for instance, can show what this looks like by institutionalising youth consultations into its budgeting framework,building on models that already exist at the county level. Digital civic platforms must be scaled to enable young people to track service delivery, monitor public spending, and demand accountability in real time. Beyond consultation, it is time to consider structural power: a minimum percentage of parliamentary or cabinet seats reserved for those under 35, not as ceremonial appointments, but with full legislative and policy authority.
This is what serious youth inclusion looks like. Not inspiration. Implementation.
Africa’s young people are already moving. The real question is whether those in power are willing to shift with them,or risk becoming irrelevant. The tools of authority are changing. Influence no longer flows only through government buildings. It is shaped on timelines, in group chats, in start-up spaces, on street corners. And the most powerful leaders will be those who learn to listen, collaborate, and evolve.
There is no single blueprint. Each country must find its own rhythm. But the principle is the same: the centre must shift. The time of youth as spectators is over.
Africa Day should not be just a moment of remembrance. It should be a mirror, and a prompt. If the continent truly wants to realise the goals of Agenda 2063, then the work begins by grounding every policy, every partnership, every decision in the realities and aspirations of its youth.
Because they are not just the future. They are already building it.
