By Abigia Abel
I am 16 years old, and I live in Ethiopia — a country rich in culture, history, and resilience. But also, a country that is currently robbing its children of their future. Every morning, I wake up and see the same streets, the same neighbors, the same stories. Young men and women who once walked out of university gates with their heads held high are now walking in circles, aimless, hopeless, tired. Some stay home, some hustle on the streets, some disappear, and others leave. Not by choice, but by desperation. Many of them migrate illegally to Arab countries or Europe, chasing a dream that their own homeland refused to give them.
A Nation of Graduates with Nowhere to Go
Ethiopia today is graduating thousands of students every year. Yet there are no jobs waiting for them. Not because they are not qualified. Not because they are not intelligent. But because the system is broken. Unemployment is not just a statistic here. It is a lived experience. It is a heavy cloud hanging over millions of young people, including me — even before I have finished high school. It makes me ask questions: What am I really studying for? Will there be anything waiting for me after university? Or will I be just another number in the unemployment rate? According to government reports and independent studies, youth unemployment in urban areas is well above 25%, and it’s growing. But behind those numbers are real lives — sons and daughters who now feel like failures, not because they lacked ambition, but because they were born into a country that doesn’t protect or plan for them.
Broken Promises and Political Failure
Our country has had many leaders, many promises, many policies — but very few real results. Instead of building a stable, inclusive, and merit-based economy, politics has been full of division, conflict, corruption, and favoritism. For the last several years, Ethiopia has been trapped in cycles of political instability, civil war, ethnic violence, and now, economic crisis. These conditions have chased away foreign investors, destroyed infrastructure, and created fear in the private sector. Instead of expanding jobs, industries are shrinking. Instead of building unity, politics has sown hatred and suspicion. Instead of lifting us up, the government is failing to respond to the biggest crisis of our generation: the loss of hope.
The Price of Nepotism
In many government offices, jobs are not given based on skill or merit. They are given based on connection — who you know, who your father is, what political party or ethnic group you belong to. Nepotism has become the silent killer of our dreams. It replaces talent with loyalty, hard work with favoritism. Even international NGOs and private companies are often affected. Those who are qualified are asked to “wait,” while others are silently hired through backdoors. What message does this send to the youth? That effort doesn’t matter? That dreams only belong to the connected? This is how we lose our brightest minds. This is how a nation falls into silence — when its youth stop believing in their future.
Mass Migration: The Final Escape
I have classmates whose brothers and sisters have risked everything to go abroad. Some are in Libya, waiting for smugglers. Some are in Saudi Arabia, working as housemaids in dangerous conditions. Others are in Europe, undocumented and scared. A few made it. Many didn’t. Why do they leave? Not because they want to abandon their homeland — but because they feel abandoned by it. Can you blame them? When your government cannot provide jobs, when your society rewards nepotism, when corruption eats every corner of opportunity, and when your tomorrow feels darker than your today — escape becomes the only light.
I am only 16, but I already feel the pressure of a future that is not mine to hold. I want to dream of becoming a doctor, a journalist, a leader — but deep inside, I wonder: Will I ever get the chance? My generation is not lazy. We are full of potential, ideas, passion, and energy. But we are not being given a path. Instead, we are being pushed into survival mode, into hopelessness, into migration, into silence. Our tomorrow is being stolen right in front of us.
A Call for Change
If Ethiopia wants to move forward, it must listen to its youth. It must: end nepotism and enforce merit-based hiring in public and private sectors; Invest in job creation, especially for the youth, through technology, agriculture, and manufacturing; Create national service or internship programs to connect graduates to real work; Restore political stability so that businesses feel safe to invest; Protect and empower youth voices in decision-making, not just during elections, but every day.
We don’t want charity. We don’t want pity. We want justice. We want opportunity. We want to work, to build, grow here, in our homeland. Let this article be more than words. Let it be a reminder that the youth of Ethiopia are not invisible. We are watching. We are waiting. And we are still hoping — even though hope is hard to hold onto. PLEASE, GIVE US BACK TOMORROW.
Property party is bringing TRANSfORMATION and growth. Why are you barking as a hungry dog? You look like a parrot for the EXTRImist groups who are eroding the generation of their innocense. Shut up please