Here in this country, we are not sure which path to take to address the problems of the Youths. Today, there are talks of creating 150,000 jobs for the Youths. Tomorrow, we are talking about Labour Contracts with foreign countries for the employment of our Youths. For the future, we say the prosperity of the country depends on Youth empowerment without saying how this will be achieved. We are not thinking about the engagement of the Youths in the productive sectors of the economy such as agriculture, Fisheries, Tourism and Manufacturing. The current rush for passports by the Youths is that the nerve syndrome for greener pastures abroad is pushing the Youths to venture for work overseas. But sooner or later they will find out that it would have been better to stay at home and engage in a productive life. A young man who had ventured on a similar mission, came back home to realize that working hard at home was far better than leading a tough life abroad. He is now at the top of the mountain with dignity and honor in society. It is in the National interest for the enabling environment to be created here at home for the empowerment of the Youths. For example, if 1000 Youths are encouraged to contribute D1,000 each that will amount to D1 million. They can set up bakery services. The government then can request for assistance from UNIDO to provide training and bakery equipment for the Youths. This is empowerment in concrete terms. Youth bakery services will minimize the bluff of the Bakery Association. There should be a Youth Empowerment Policy that should be implemented by both the government and the private sector. Such a policy should incorporate Local Content which shall become a law. Such a policy should also lead to a law that establishes minimum wage reflective of the economic realities on the ground. All State institutions and State owned enterprises should be tasked to create employment possibilities for the Youths in addition to the efforts of the private sector. The new projects coming to the country such as the private ferry company, the Sanyang Ports development and any other new project, should strongly reflect the Local content policy. The Labour Department, Immigration, GIEPA should collaborate to ensure that employment of the Youths is given serious consideration by these business entities. Gambians first in fulfillment of the Local content. The Ministry of Youths should be more proactive in the pursuit of employment opportunities for the Youths. It is time that Employment is firmly designated to MOYS and moved away from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and employment.Gambia Tourism Board should recruit a number of Youths and train them as official tourist guides. They can be provided with uniforms and registration identities. All hotels should be informed about the plan so that visitors can be advised to go out to places with official tourist guides for their security and safety. The revenues derived from tourism can be partly utilized to create the enabling environment for the Youths. Similar measures should be undertaken in the Fisheries and Manufacturing sectors of the economy. All that is needed is to train the Youths and to absorb them in the sectors of the economy. We cannot possibly claim that the prosperity of the Nation depends on Youth empowerment without engaging them in the productive sectors of the economy. The Youths are the productive force and they are the majority voting population. Experience has shown that giving money to the Youths to set up business enterprises does fail most of the time due to lack of entrepreneurial skills and business accounting knowledge. Some more efforts are needed to make Youth empowerment real and meaningful.
