He made this appeal on Friday as he officially launched the National Youth Service Scheme (NYSS) at a graduation programme and swearing-in of the National Youth Service Scheme members held at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Centre in Bijilo.
The President noted that this would help in opening up opportunities for greater number of university graduates with a long term plan of enforcing the law that requires every Gambian and young people who graduate from university to enroll and serve the country through the National Youth Service as a condition for employment in the civil service.
The occasion marked the first batch of the country’s National Youth Service graduates programme and for the first time The Gambia government is implementing the National Youth Service Graduate Programme in collaboration with the University of The Gambia through funding of Ministry of Youth and Sports and the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP).
The development targeted 100 University of The Gambia graduates.
President Barrow applauded the collaboration efforts between the University of The Gambia and the National Youth Service Scheme in the implementation of the first National Youth Service Graduate Programme.
He stated that “this is the type of collaboration my government encourages because it brings all the synergies together and will increase performance and overall outcomes. I implore on the partners especially the NYSS and the UTG and their two Ministries to continue this collaboration.”
He further acknowledged the support of the various development partners, especially the UNDP that supported the pilot phase.
President Barrow emphasised that one of the cardinal principles of the NYSS programme is to inculcate discipline, hard work, and total loyalty to The Gambia by its members.
He urged them to learn and strictly follow those principles by being loyal and upholding the interest of the state very high.
Mr. Barrow, however, advanced that the programme will be expanded in the coming years through the close collaboration among the NYSS and UTG and their partners, especially the UNDP.
He assured that after the successful implementation of the pilot programme, his government will increase funding to accommodate more Gambian graduates from not just the UTG but other universities in The Gambia.
