Mohamed Sannoh - Strategic Communications Unit, MOICE
Freetown, 15th August 2023
Minister of Youth Affairs, Mohamed Orman Bangura, has said at the weekly government conversation with the press that the future of Sierra Leone is in entrepreneurship and agriculture, emphasizing that our generation is very lucky because we are going to have one of the most educated and innovative farmers.
Speaking on plans of the Government of Sierra Leone to provide green jobs for the youth, the Minister referred to skills that young people can get without the need to go through formal school, such as opportunities created by the internet, including e-commerce, which can create opportunities for them to sell things online.
“Green jobs are jobs that would not affect the environment. You can learn everything on tik tok and other platforms and use social media to your own advantage” he emphasised
Orman Bangura applauded President Bio’s green energy vision, saying that it provides opportunities for jobs in things like food preservation and products using solar energy and how businesses would thrive on green energy. He also referred to aquaculture, specifically fish farming, citing the youth in fishery project, which, according to him, is the best project ever for the youth in Sierra Leone. He revealed that with the 70 boats distributed to youth, the project has been able to develop a bank balance of over Le. 4 billion in the account set up for the loan scheme.
On issues of Job creation, the Orman Bangura opined that the problem is that young people have limited skills but expressed satisfaction that we now have a formidable TVET component that gives certificates in plumbing, masonry, and tractor driving, citing the Sumbuya Youth Project as an example. In the same vein, the Minister spoke about the successes of the Car wash project and Youth Connect hubs which have ensured that no matter where you find yourself, you would be reached by the Ministry.
The Minister also addressed issues of accessing finance and lack of collateral, highlighting how the government has tried to surmount the challenges by providing over 2 million US Dollars to young entrepreneurs on a principle of transparency and accountability and allowing young entrepreneurs to defend their business ideas based on “know-how” and not “know who”.
“President Bio has laid the foundation for jobs and that is why he always pushes for private sector investment. He has brought back a lot of investment in the mining sector and that has created thousands of jobs” he said, adding that the country now exports vegetable oil because of a consistent approach to industrialization.
“It’s a process. if we had started these 20 years ago, we would have been far gone” the minister concluded.
Comments
Post a Comment