Musa Mbye was speaking recently at the launch of the National Youth Service Scheme (NYSS) and swearing-in of members of the National Youth Service Scheme at a ceremony held at Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Centre in Bijilo.
At the event, DPS Mbye affirmed that youth require a certain degree of orientation; preparation and tutelage to enable them perform their future roles adequately with credibility.
"Government is aware that youths have great potentials and their effective mobilisation is inevitable, if any degree of self-reliance and national development is to be achieved."
“Despite the records of failures in youth development programmes throughout the continent, the government is ever determined to do something about the desperate plight of the young people of The Gambia. So, the National Youth Service Scheme was launched in January 1996 with the full knowledge of some of the successes and failures of earlier efforts in other parts of Africa.” he recalled.
DPS Mbye recalled that government for the first 8 years sought and obtained the support of Nigeria, whose National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) already had some considerable experience that the country is willing to share.
As a result of this support, he said, NYSS received some Nigerian Corps every two years as the Gambia builds its own staff capacity to manage the scheme.
“Though the NYSC helped in founding of the GNYSS in 1996; attempts at establishing a national youth service scheme in The Gambia has a long history.” Mbye added.
It would be recalled that the idea was first envisaged in the first National Youth Policy of 1989, during the administration of His Excellency Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara, then President of the Republic of The Gambia.
