The manner at which unemployment rate is surging especially among the youths in the country is so startling that government needs to urgently respond in combating the menace by focusing on putting the necessary structures that will have the potential to create an enabling environment that will be investment friendly to an extension creates job opportunities for the youths whom many development specialist would refer to as “the trustees of posterity”
It is constitutionally incumbent on Governments to provide the legal and social framework, maintain the competition, provide public goods and services, national defense, income and social welfare correct for externalities and stabilize the economy, but however the lapses on the part of governments in Sierra Leone to provide youths with the adequate skills and education, support for the development of entrepreneurship and diminishing labor rights have negatively affected youth economic engagement.
Statistics have shown that most jobs are created by small to medium –sized enterprises SME’s, although for most governments, it is much easier for them -and for donor agencies- to make single investments in large companies and industrial zones than to support diverse range of micro-SME’s and necessity entrepreneurs .
In Namibia the government has set up a national youth directorate with the goal of empowering youths through entrepreneurship skills development and active youth participation in responsive youth programs. The directorate includes the Namibian youth credit scheme, a loan guarantee program aimed at providing loan of NS 2.000 to NS 20.000 to youths that do not have adequate collateral to access credit from the mainstream banking system. Operated through both individual and groups lending system, the loans are paid back with interest not more than 20% and beneficiaries are offered follow-up training, counseling and monitoring in business management practices.
From this backdrop, the covenant newspaper is of the opinion that government ensure that youths are fully empowered to meet modern challenges. Empowerment can help youths to understand the importance of education that leads to the social improvement of the country for when a youth is empowered he understands the important of education and helps uplift the sector
The covenant is also of the view that the primary role of young people is to get a good education in order to become better citizens of tomorrow. They need to learn skills that are related to the job that their country’s econ my needs.
We are also of the strong conviction that empowerment helped framework an employee’s expectations and set goals to accomplish their main purpose of their work as it will enable an employee to take control of their job and use skills they never knew they could use.
We want to call on the attention of government that the role of the youth is simply to renew, refresh, and maintain therefore youths are expected to advance the current technology, education, politics and the peace of the country.
In light of the above, government has to include the youths in decision making processes especially the ones affecting their lives because youths participation in a growing economy especially in decision making give people a sense of belongingness which promote a high sense of responsibility an citizenship.
