Youth activist: Youth empowerment faces unprecedented challenges

Mar 4, 2021, 11:46 AM 2 min read

Youth activist, Muhammed Saidykhan, says youth unemployment coupled with increased crime has for the past years remained the country's biggest challenge.

He said the preceding factor of youth unemployment was due to lack of demographic repositioning of youths.

He made these remarks recently during an interview with The Point in Janjangbureh, Central River Region (CRR).

"The main factor is demography that led to so many young people being involved in crime," he remarked.

He further stated that crime rate is surging exponentially among young people.

He adduced that economic opportunity and lack of job security contributed adversely to the rising number of violent thugs among the youth populace.

"Drug abuse, drug peddling, peer influence, school dropout and rape. These are the leading factors why young people are involving themselves into," he pointed out.

He described government’s lack of commitment in engaging the youth as the main contributing factor of surging crime rate among the youth.

He further added that youth sector contributes significantly to the socio-economic drive of the country.

The youth activist further urged government to actively absorb job opportunities, adding that youths play a vital role in national development.

"The best way of absorbing youths into national politics is to put them among key decision makers. From the political and social view, the best way is to empower the social behaviour of youths and recognise their efforts into national politics," he concluded.