The National Youth Authority (NYA) CEO, Osman Abdulai Ayariga, has warned that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) risks falling short of its promise if it is implemented as a goods-only agreement that ignores the mobility and protection of Africa’s youthful talent.

Delivering a keynote address at the Africa Prosperity Dialogues on the theme, “Africa Without Borders: Youth, Creativity, and Power in an Integrated Africa,” Mr Ayariga stressed that Africa’s integration agenda must place young people, creativity and services at the centre.

He noted that while AfCFTA has created a single market of over 1.4 billion people with a combined economic output exceeding US$3 trillion, markets are ultimately built by people, not goods alone.

“If AfCFTA is implemented as a goods-only agreement, it will structurally fail Africa’s youth,” he said.

According to him, the fastest-growing segments of the global economy are services, digital production and the creative industries—sectors driven by skills, mobility and innovation.

However, he said Africa currently captures less than one per cent of global creative economy value, a gap he attributed to policy failures rather than a lack of talent.

Mr Ayariga cited Nigeria’s film industry as an example of what can happen when creative ecosystems attract capital.

Between 2016 and 2022, he said global streaming platforms invested about US$40 million into Nollywood, helping African stories reach global audiences at scale.

He argued that culture has evolved beyond soft power and has become a tool of economic and diplomatic influence.

He urged African governments to invest deliberately in cultural diplomacy or risk being defined by others.

The NYA CEO called for urgent political action, including mutual recognition of skills across borders, labour-sensitive mobility frameworks, and a managed free-movement regime that enables Africans to live, work, and create across the continent with dignity.

“Africa’s youth are already borderless in imagination and ambition. Policy is lagging behind reality,” he concluded.