Monrovia, Liberia – Africa must bridge the “dislocation” between its raw material extraction and industrial processing to unlock widespread job opportunities, according to Billay Tunkara, the 4th Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament. Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the regional bloc’s delocalised meeting in Monrovia, which is focused on West Africa’s unemployment crisis, Mr. Tunkara asserted that African nations have historically lost out on significant employment benefits by exporting unprocessed resources.
Mr. Tunkara highlighted that since the colonial era, and even in the post-independence period, African countries have primarily served as sources of raw materials – from minerals to oil. These resources are then transported and processed in Western nations, generating jobs for their youth while West Africa continues to grapple with high unemployment rates. He stressed that allowing the harvesting of minerals at the “primary stage” without adding value within the continent is not in Africa’s long-term interest.
The Deputy Speaker called for a “bold step” from African countries to forge a crucial “nexus” between the primary, secondary, and tertiary stages of production. He argued that actively pursuing value addition across these stages is fundamental for creating the necessary employment opportunities. “Each stage will add value, you also adding employment,” Mr. Tunkara stated, emphasising that every layer of the production process offers distinct avenues for job creation that would ultimately benefit the region’s workforce. He concluded by urging leaders across ECOWAS to “amplify our voices” to bring about this critical change.
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