Director of the Open Society Foundations, Dr. Chukwuemeka Eze, says youth-led social movements across Africa are now united by one demand: economic justice.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Monday, September 15, he explained that the movements have become intersectional and intergenerational, spreading beyond urban cities into rural and peri-urban communities.

“If you look at what is going on in Africa today, whether it is the social movements that are recently led by African youths that are becoming now intersectional but also intergenerational.

"That it is also no longer something to do with urban cities, but also now involving the rural communities and the peri-urban communities,” he said.

According to him, young Africans are no longer interested in fighting electoral fraud or contesting election outcomes.

“They are focusing more on economic justice, because for them, democracy is not delivering,” Dr. Eze stressed.

He pointed out that this trend cuts across the continent.

“Therefore, whether it is in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa or Senegal, the demands of these youth-led movements are one and the same: economic justice,” he said.

He explained that this shift influenced his foundation’s approach.

“So to that extent, when we were developing our democratic features in our Africa strategy, we decided to find out the nexus between democracy and economic justice and why the recent social movements across Africa are no longer focusing on electoral fraud or outcomes of elections, but what kind of policies allow democracy to deliver to its people,” Dr. Eze noted.