However, it is also disheartening to note that instead of creating more jobs for the populace, the government is instead devising measures and shutting its doors to potential investors.
In the past years, thousands of teeming youth populations have embarked on this deadly route through harsh desert climatic conditions and then onto rickety boats across the Mediterranean.
Thus, the country has lost a lot of sons and daughters but doesn’t seem a deterrent to those intending to travel. For many youngsters, especially those determined to take the ‘backway’, nothing can stop them.
In our Monday’s edition, we ran a story headlined: ‘Experts alarmed over 9,000 Gambia ‘back-way’ arrivals in Europe.’
In the story, experts have expressed alarm over the increasing number of Gambians arriving on European shores through irregular means, blaming failed government policies as the main driver for this outflow.
Sadly, most of the youths taking on this ‘back-way’ have already lost confidence in this current government due to a number of reasons. From abject poverty, government’s weak policies, unemployment, corruption just to name a few, many youths are of the view it will be difficult for one to stay here and improve the living condition of their respective families.
As rightly stated by one of the experts, staying in the country of origin under such hardships would only encourage them to participate in uprisings, political upheaval or street crime such as banditry and drug abuse.
In the past few years, all can attest to the surge in the number of violent crimes in the country, though crime rate has reduced to some extent due to night patrol by the country’s joint security forces.
According to experts, Africa is the most profitable region in the world. A report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development states that between 2006 and 2011, Africa had the highest rate of return on inflows of Foreign Direct Investment: 11.4%. This is compared to 9.1% in Asia, 8.9% in Latin America and the Caribbean. The global figure is 7.1%.
Going by this reality, the government needs to invest in infrastructures, and human resources development to encourage the country’s able-bodied men to stay and work in-country. Government also needs to strengthen its governance structure and encourage more investors to invest in the country, thus creating jobs for the country’s teeming young population. This will significantly reduce the outflow of youth in search of greener pasture elsewhere.