Alieu
K Jammeh, minister of Youth and Sports, has said the Ministry of Youth and
Sports (MoYS), and the Gambia government as a whole, is very proud of the
Gambia Songhai Initiative (GSI).
“The
GSI project is one of the projects that the ministry and government are proud
of and everybody is personate about,” the minister said at the induction of a
new GSI project coordinator, Ebou Faye-Njie, by MoYS and the United Nations
Development Fund (UNDP), at the independence stadium in Bakau.
GSI,
housed in Chamen village, in the North Bank Region, is an agricultural training
centre for youths established in early 2015 by MoYS with funding from
UNDP. It is a replica of the Songhai
Centre in Benin.
Apart
from the support of UNDP, the minister said the government is putting “other
extra efforts” into the project so as to achieve bigger results in the future.
“We
cannot put all our eggs in one basket; we cannot rely our funding on UNDP
alone. This is why we are making some
efforts to raise funds, and we will work with other institutions in this
regard. Already, the government has put
aside D5 million for the completion of some of the jobs at the centre,”
Minister Jammeh said.
Ebou
Faye-Njie, the new GSI project coordinator, said his appointment as project
coordinator of a project that is close to the heart of UNDP and MoYS is a big
challenge.
“I
will try all my best to make sure that the project achieves its desired goals
and objectives,” he said. “I will do all
my best to do what is expected of me.”
Momodou
Lamin Ceesay, permanent secretary at MoYS, said GSI is a very important project
of the ministry, saying all the stakeholders should work together for the
success and betterment of the project.
Sainey
Drammeh, executive director of President’s International Award (PIA), said the
PIA and all the other satellite institutions of MoYS welcome GSI as one of
them.
Abdoulie
Faye, programme manager at the National Youth Council (NYC), said since GSI
provides training to the young people, it is imperative to consider what next
to provide the youths after their training,
Mustapha
Badjie, programme manager at National Enterprise Development Initiative (NEDI),
Marcel Mendy, executive director of National Sports Council, and Musa Mbye,
director of the Department of Planning of MoYS, welcomed and reassured Mr
Faye-Njie of their support.
Gambia
Songhai Initiative
Established
in early 2015, GSI is sponsored by the UNDP and it is under the supervision of
MoYS.
Farming
at GSI is 100 per cent organic and it is currently being managed by
instructors, most of whom are foreigners, with the assistance of 30 young
Gambian instructor-trainees.
At
the centre, students are trained on gardening, soap making, and the production
of cake, biscuit, soya beans, milk, palm oil, soya beans oil, among others.
The
institution also rears different livestock, including rabbits, goats, sheep and
cattle, as well as sells different seedlings of various plants and vegetable
crops.
