Some Abuja residents have urged African Heads of State and Governments to prioritise unemployment and insecurity during their meeting in Johannesburg.
The African leaders, under the auspices of African Union (AU) Summit holds between June 11 and June 15.
A trader at Garki market, Charles Okotieboh, told newsmen insecurity had become a major challenge to the development of many countries on the continent.
He said it was unfortunate that progress made in the area of infrastructure development in some countries such as Nigeria and North African nations were being eroded by insurgency and militants’ activities.
Okotieboh told newsmen that it would take enormous resources to redress the social and economic losses caused insecurity.
He stressed it was obvious that no meaningful progress would be achieved in the face of insecurity.
A civil servant, Mr Jacob Zamani, called on the leaders to urgently address the problem of unemployment on the continent.
He said insurgency and other security challenges being experienced in many parts of the continent could be attributed to unemployment.
Zamani also urged the African leaders to address the state of the economy of their countries, saying that it was painful that in spite of their enormous resources most African nations remained underdeveloped.
He called for the strengthening of the health sector across the continent to enable them to appropriately respond to health emergencies.
??Rufors Idarah a naval officer called on the leaders to prevail on multinational companies operating in Africa to support infrastructure development efforts of their host countries.
The theme for the summit is “Year of Women Empowerment and Development Towards Africa’s Agenda 2063.”