Youth Rise International (YoRI), a youth-led grassroots and advocacy Non-Governmental organization, has called on African Governments to, as a matter of emergency, prioritize and set up an Epidemic and Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan with adequate budget allocations.

This, it said, would avert or mitigate the impacts of any near-future pandemic, emergency, or national crisis situation.

This was contained in a statement issued and signed by its Founder and Executive Director, David K, Awusi, in commemoration of this year's International Youth Day (IYD) celebration.

The celebration was under the theme “Green Skills for Youth: Towards A Sustainable World.”

The statement stated that regardless of the skills given to the African youth, they have no hope for a brighter future if African leaders do not put together a concrete, plausible, and strategic epidemic response and emergency preparedness plan and corresponding budgetary allocations.

With the hard lessons learned from COVID-19 on pandemics and healthcare emergencies, the NGO believes that such an initiative would serve as a catalyst for safeguarding the future of African youth and accelerating Agenda 2063.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world and Africa, regardless of whichever skills the youth possessed, they could not work due to the lockdowns and several national state policies and interventions to stop, contain, and prevent the spread and mortalities caused by the coronavirus”, the statement said.

“We sincerely agree that equipping the youth of Africa with the requisite job-oriented and entrepreneurial skills is the express road to addressing the burdens of youth unemployment, human trafficking, poverty, and health disparities on the continent.”, it added.

In that regard, YoRI has impacted and continues to impact over 170,000 children and youth across Africa with life-coaching, career mentoring, academic coaching, and ICT and entrepreneurship skills training since 2015.

The statement sympathized with children, women, youth, and the people of Niger and called for  peace  and unity in the country  and the West Africa sub-region.

“Undoubtedly, being united and standing in solidarity is the only route to achieving the beautiful Agenda 2063, which seeks to transform Africa into a global powerhouse”, the statement said.

It stressed that conflicts, civil wars, public unrest, and national insecurities  displace thousands and millions of people, make them lose their livelihoods, hinder their access to quality healthcare, and deny them a decent and dignified life.

Youth Rise International (YoRI) is a youth-led grassroots and advocacy organization that mobilizes youth and rural communities to fight the root causes and intersections of extreme poverty, climate change, and health disparities in Africa.