Structural changes required to harness youth’s potential

Dr Adil Najam says education, jobs, engagement need to prevent youth bomb explosion

ISLAMABAD: With a growing ‘youth bulge’ in the country, Pakistan will have to undertake structural changes to accommodate them in the economic and political spheres lest it explodes.

This was stated by scholar and environmentalist Dr Adil Najam who, along with scholar Dr Faisal Bari is leading the upcoming Pakistan National Human Development Report (NHDR) which is set to be launched later this year. It is UNDP’s country-specific report for Pakistan where strong emphasis has been placed on youth empowerment.

The report includes a national survey, focus group discussions and consultations. A large majority of those included were young people.

Najam spoke to The Express Tribune while visiting the country to discuss the emerging findings of the report with the government, donor agencies, civil society and universities in Lahore, Peshawar and Islamabad.



“If you look at the countries that have developed, have done so on the boom of their youth bulge,” Najam told The Express Tribune, adding that Pakistan needs to create 1.5 to 2.5 million jobs a year to maintain its current unemployment rates.

He underscored that these jobs cannot come through the public sector alone and thus there needs to be some sort of structural transformation in the country to generate the large number of jobs for the youth.

With almost 64 per cent of Pakistan’s population below 30 years of age, Najam said the country is posed with significant opportunity. And with the youth bulge set to grow, by 2055 and 2060 it can either lead to a boom or a bust.

Pointing towards China, Turkey, Malaysia and India, Najam said these countries understood the bulge and are now rising on its back.

However, he warned that a boom can be equally devastating as the world saw in the case of Tahrir Square which exploded into the Arab Spring six years ago when Mohamed Bouazizi, 27, an unemployed but educated youth set himself on fire because he was forced to work as a street vendor and gave in to the harassment inflicted upon him by municipal officers.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2016.