Providing chances for our youth to learn, explore and earn a decent living is a critical opportunity they need.
Many young people in the country have over the years manifested their desire to excel in life and contribute their quota to national development.
However, to enable them meet their great desire, there is absolute need to create more opportunities for the youth.
While there exist some opportunities for the youth in the country, there is still need for more since the ones available are just not enough for our teeming mass of enthusiastic and hardworking youth.
The provision of soft loans for young entrepreneurs and funding of more projects for the youth are all opportunities that could help our youth to maximize their full potentials.
It is my belief that the limited opportunities that we have in the country should be well decentralized for the benefit of all young Gambians including those living in remote areas.
I do believe that by creating more opportunities for our youth in various fields as education, agriculture and entrepreneurship, just to name a few, would not help to reduce the tendency of illegal migration.
Opportunities do give youth the chance to put their ideas into test thus provide room for them to meet their basic needs.
When we create more opportunities for the young people, the much talked about high dependency in the country could also be reduced.
Over the years, many young people have been provided training opportunities by the government through the National Youth Services Scheme, no doubt about it.
However, the question that many people have been asking is, what next for the majority of these trainees after completing their courses with the scheme.
I do believe that all of them should be supported financially and materially to put the skills already acquired into a meaningful use.
Gambian youth have talent and what they really need is support from the government, the civil society and the private sector.
Development partners from within the country and beyond can also be very supportive of our youth by creating opportunities for them to grab.
Investing in our youth, for me, is the greatest investment if only we are to be assured of a better and prosperous
I have talked about the issue of members of the private sector redirecting their corporate social responsibility more into youth development.
The reason is that any investment they make in the development of our youth they will surely gain from their skills and experience one day.
Finally, I must stress that as young people of The Gambia, we must also help each other and be very supportive of each other in our development strives and should not discourage one another.
By so doing, our prospects of succeeding will be high.
