Youth unemployment, crime in Gambia

 The causes are not farfetched as studies have associated rising youth unemployment to increase of violent crime in The Gambia.

The accelerating level of prostitution, armed robbery, rape, theft and all facets of violence can be largely attributed to the incidence of unemployment.

As a developing country, she faces her own share of social, political, economic and cultural problems which has in no small measure affected the well-being of the populace.

With a population of about 1.5 million, Gambia is one of Africa’s smallest countries’ in terms of demographic size.

Unemployment rate in Gambia has continued to be on the increase despite the abundant financial support to the Barrow led.

Unemployment has become a major problem tormenting the lives of Gambian youths and this poses a serious risk to the Gambian society.

 Unemployment causes frustration, dejection, desperation and dependency on family members and friends who also have their own problems to contend with.

This precarious situation has left the youths in a vicious cycle of poverty that daily erodes their confidence and bright future.

The magnitude and expansion of poverty in Gambia and the threat it poses makes it one of the biggest challenges in the nation today.

The recent involvement of number of young people arrested over alleged theft cases in the Kanifing Municipality is clear evidence of lack of job to earn a living on daily basis.

 This portends immense dangers when understood from the point of view that young people are the next generation of potentially productive economic and social actors.

In today Gambia, youth unemployment has been a major problem giving rise to other criminal tendencies in the youths and threatens the social-economic peace and stability of the country Unemployment has been categorized as one of the serious impediments to social progress. …

 The scariest undertone of Gambia’s socio-economic underachievement, by far, is the steady rise in youth crime, nurtured in a climate of increasing national income and the simultaneous failure of employment-generation and poverty alleviation programmes under the Barrow administration.

Crime situation in Gambia is more intense in urban centres than rural areas due to high level of urban poverty, congestion, unemployment, cost of living, disorganization and moral decadence confronting urban system.

The preponderance of urban crimes in Gambia is a reflection of deprivation, marginalization and breakdown in infrastructure and amenities that are supposed to manage or control crime among urban residents.