On a conducted tour with satellite institutions under his ministry’s purview aimed at acquainting himself with developments, achievements and challenges of the young, he said:
“Young people of The Gambia are working hard, striving and thriving in whatever they are doing to register successes in their various trades. You cannot only be successful by sitting in an office, you can succeed by venturing into trade. You can be a barber, food caterer, engineer through which you can earn a living and support other young people to undertake such trades to also earn a living too.
The purpose of the tour is to showcase the talents in this country; the level of skills in our youths and to also portray the skills and talents combined. It is a very successful tour because it gives me the encouragement that anybody that wants to work in this country can do it in any trade they might be involved in. Young people should not restrict themselves with the desire of sitting in an office. You can be in a university and acquire all the degrees but you can be still involved in a trade because skills based employment is sometimes better paid than sitting in an office.”
Minister Jammeh further stated: “It is very impressive that everywhere you go in The Gambia you will see a young person doing a trade or the other working hard to make a living to support themselves and the family while contributing to the national cake hence few are registered businesses and are paying tax to the government .Satellite agencies like President’s International Award, National Enterprise Development Initiative, National Youth Service Scheme, Directorate of physical planning and National Youth Council have helped to support the youths in the area of accessing loans, providing essential skills by instilling values of hard work and patriotism. These are all existing programmes and we intend to work hard on this program so that it can reach more young people .If they are aware of it and with the support from government then more young people can benefit from these programmes.
“We should support and patronise youths .Government alone cannot play that role but everyone should do the same to make sure youths appreciate their trade more. We are planning to expand such trade opportunities in rural Gambia to create more employment opportunities for young people who can also benefit from it. These projects are already here through Nedi, PIA, NYSS and other ministries like agriculture, fisheries and trade targeting young people and women. These projects already exist, and we want young people to come on board. Those of them already on board have succeeded and impacting positive changes because of the environment created by the government”.
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