Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has warned of an imminent security crisis unless political leaders in Africa and elsewhere in the world take the unemployment challenge seriously.
He said graduate unemployment, especially, could result in the overthrow of constitutionally elected governments unless steps are taken to resolve it.
“Every year these universities and other tertiary institutions are putting out hundreds of thousands of students – qualified, very intelligent – and in the age of IT, they read and understand and see whatever is happening around the world.
“If such resourceful youths will leave universities – and not counting their cousins who even have not gone in there, but who are all smart – and they can’t hope for meaningful employment, then I tell you there is a measure of intolerance that even regular good governance may not be able to cope with,” he said.
The former President made these remarks when the leadership of the International Democratic Union (IDU) paid a courtesy call on him at his office in Accra.
IDU is an international alliance of centre-right political parties.
Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, the Union comprises 71 full and associate members from 63 different countries.
The IDU provides a forum in which political parties holding similar beliefs can come together and exchange views on matters of policy and organisational interest.
President Kufuor also warned against global population growth.
“The youth want aspirations and they can’t get it where developments of economies are not keeping pace with population explosion,” he said.
He said a lack of employment opportunities, coupled with a population explosion, could be a dangerous trigger of instability in any society.
“When you’ve got such trained minds and healthy bodies not having hope around, then when you are not careful regular systems get undermined,” he warned.