If this country is to achieve all her development aspirations, it must empower the youths to maximize their potentials.
Our youth are not only the future of this country, but leaders in the making.
They need quality education, involvement and empowerment to help them achieve their dreams, and the country’s development goals.
We, therefore, hope that with the new development blueprint also known as the Programme for the Accelerated Growth and Employment (PAGE), most of the challenges facing our youths would be addressed.
One of the most important ways in which we can help our youths in empowering them is to help them acquire skills.
Skills acquisition is one way to help our youths to have gainful employment.
Giving young people support to be their best requires youth-friendly policies and programmes such as micro-finance schemes for youths.
Youth empowerment would, no doubt, reduce the problem of illegal migration which has led to the perishing of many youths in this country.
The country’s private sector should also do more in empowering our youths, since they equally need them for their businesses to grow.
Giving youths the opportunity to have first-hand work experience would also give them the chance to test their skills and knowledge.
The issue of skills acquisition for the country’s young people has always been our call.
We realized that it is only through skills acquisition that our youths can live a sustainable livelihood, as skills make them more employable.
We call on the government and the private sector to help the youths, not only in acquiring skills but also by providing them with training centers, as well as materials to be used to enhance their work.
It is one thing to acquire skills, but another to utilize the skills.
Thus there is the need for continuing monitoring and assistance to young people who have acquired marketable skills.
For example, our youths need soft loans to buy materials to put their skills into good use.
Thus the need to support them in that area.
As the country is blessed with a youthful population, some say more than 60 percent, we have to take advantage of that, and help develop our human resource by making vocational and technical training for young people, male and female, a national priority.
The country needs experts in all fields and, therefore, needs to allocate more resources to this sector.
As future leaders, our youths need our guidance, support and wisdom to enable them become responsible and productive citizens.
