Marchers had banners with inscriptions such as ‘Let the Youths be the Priority’, ‘The Future is Dying, Take Action’, ‘No to Backway’, ‘They Lost Hope Here; They Are Going to the Sea’ and ‘What is There for the Youths’.
Led by Abdou Bah, Head of the NYP’s Standing Committee on Youth Employment, Enterprise, and Migration, the move aimed to draw attention to the pressing need for meaningful job opportunities for the youth, making them a national priority.
Mr Bah emphasised that it is high time for the Government of The Gambia to take decisive action to save the youth by providing quality jobs with fair wages. Speaking passionately, he underscored the urgent need to address the root causes of irregular migration and ensure that the aspirations of the nation's young population are not lost at sea.
NYP’s Deputy Speaker Ndegen Jobe echoed those sentiments in her speech, urging the National Assembly to prioritise youth-centric initiatives in the forthcoming 2024 budget session. She also stressed the need for concrete measures to empower young people and create opportunities that would dissuade them from resorting to irregular migration.
The NYP's commitment to youth empowerment was further emphasised as they called on the government to implement decentralised employment opportunities for young individuals. This strategic approach seeks to address regional disparities in job availability, ensuring that opportunities are spread across the nation. By doing so, the NYP aims to diminish the factors that drive youth towards irregular migration.
Moreover, the youth-led body advocated for a significant increase in the salary of civil servants, which it believed would serve as a deterrent to irregular migration and brain drain.
In a world where irregular migration continues to claim the lives and dreams of countless young people, the NYP's march was intended to serves as a poignant reminder of the collective responsibility to safeguard the future of the nation.
The demands put forth by Abdou Bah and Hon. Ndegen Jobe, among others, were not mere requests but a clarion call for action; action that would prioritise the youth in the national agenda and pave way for a future where no young life is lost in the Mediterranean due to the lack of opportunities at home.
