Raila urges African youth to grab leadership opportunities
Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has called on Africa’s youth to step into leadership roles today, not to passively wait for tomorrow.
Speaking during the International Conference on Africa’s Democracy (ICAD 2025) held at the NAF Centre, Abuja, Nigeria, on Thursday, July 24, 2025, Odinga argued that the continent’s demographic advantage, where approximately 70 per cent of the population is under age 35, must be matched by real opportunity and swift action
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“They used to say the youths are the leaders of tomorrow, that tomorrow will never come. Youth should be the leaders of today. African youths need to be given space because there is a lot of talent on the continent; 70% of our population today is below the age of 35,” Odinga said.
The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader, in addition, said that African youth must not wait for opportunities to be handed to them but should seize them themselves, adding that although unity has eluded the continent so far, he could now sense a glimmer of hope.
He emphasised that African youth have the potential to unite the continent.
“The youth need to be given opportunities, but do not wait to be given that opportunity; grab the opportunity. You have seen it has not been possible for unity to come up to now, but I can see some kind of light right now. African youth can help unite the continent,” Odinga stated.
Raila on the older generation
Additionally, Odinga said that the older generation had shown themselves to be very exclusivist and had therefore been unable to dismantle the barriers preventing interaction among African peoples.
He added that these divisions made meaningful engagement across the continent difficult.
“The older generation has shown that they are very exclusivist; that is why they have been unable to remove these barriers, making it difficult for African people to interact with others,” he added.
Odinga furthermore added that the older people had proved to be more of a disappointment for the continent than the youth.
“The older people are more of a disappointment to the continent than the youth,” he added.
