Continuing The Daily Observer opinion poll on illegal migration, which is said to have claimed the lives of 400 African youth who ventured to travel to Spain through the Canary Islands in search of greener pastures, more youth leaders have spoken on the issue. Read on.

Ousainou Sarr, executive director of the National Youth and Children’s Organisation (NAYCO):

“For me personally, this has three dimensions and they are the young people who do the act, a national dimension and the economic situation. Some of the young people believe that if they don’t go to school up to university level, travelling to Europe is the only way you can get rich. Others have developed the mentality that going through the school channel is a waste of time. They try the sea voyage to get to Europe. Some of them die on the journey, which is a loss to the nation. The route they take tantamounts to suicide. How can we make everyone to live a decent life? The economy can cater for the younger generation. It does not only stop at training in NYSS and PIA. How could we train the youth to utilise their skills? There is need to set up small scale enterprises to help youths earn a better living so that they can serve as role models to the younger generation.

There is also need for social counselling for the youth. We should set up institutions to make them realise that Europe is not the only solution. In as much as we should create skills centres, we need to have counselling facilities for young people. We also have to understand that those issuing visas have to control people going in and out of their countries. They have protection laws, and they associate crime rates with foreigners. They should also have joint programmes with African countries, but as long as they are making it tough, people must go by sea. They can play a part to stop illegal migration. Youths should understand that taking risks would not solve the problem, they should participate in nation building and there is need for dialogue between young people, policy makers and all stakeholders to find a solution to this problem.

Binta Gaye, vice president of Resistant 722, a newly formed youth organisation aimed at combating illegal migration:

“Many young peoples’ lives have perished at sea. Some of them are parents who left behind families. Who is going to take care of their families now that they have died? Therefore, it is very important for youths to try to engage in business ventures. Most of the business men in country started their businesses with small money. Now they are enjoying. Those trained at the National Youth Service Scheme and the President’s International Award can be given loans to run small scale businesses to enable them to take part in socio-economic development. These are good training centres people can gain skills from to make a decent living. To be frank, going by sea is not the solution.

Lamin F Bojang, speaker of the National Youth Parliament:

Illegal migration to the Canary Islands is affecting the country’s financial and human resource a lot. A good number of people die in such sea adventures. Some of them leave children as orphans and women as widows and leave so many parents hopeless. I have the view that no young person wants to die in such ventures. Everyone wants success and to be hailed as a hero. Every department of state has a stake in young people, all policies directly or indirectly affect young people. The education policy needs to priortise skills training to ensure that every young person graduate with at least two skills. This will drastically reduce illegal migration. They will not have excuses to say that he/she is not employed, the government cannot do it all, it will be easy to give loans to all who are trained on skills work to set up businesses and the money they use to travel could be used for business. The government and all its stakeholders should put youth issues at the centre stage of development. We want to go down to
the grassroots to engage young people in dialogue on attitudinal change on sea voyages. I belief that young people who are aware will not take the risk to go to Europe through the sea. It is our responsibility to enlighten Gambian youths.

Alfusainey Gano, advocacy and communication officer at the National Youth Council (NYC):

The whole issue is so discouraging that a lot of resources have been lost. Young people are still determined to take the risk to travel to Spain, meaning that we need to do more to discourage them through sensitisation. There is need to create an enabling environment that would encourage young people to stay in the country. We need to boost the productive base of the country so as to create more employment for young people. We want them to be employed, but some of the youths do not want to learn. Our stance has been strong. We were part of the policy designing and the bilateral agreement signed between The Gambia and the Spanish governments. Our advocacy programme has been intensive. In fact, we will be having a forum in Farafenni this weekend to see how best we can find a solution to this problem because most of the youths who travel by sea are from the North Bank Region. I don’t think it is a good idea to take such a risk. The Gambia is our country, we can make it our own Europe. It is not bad to migrate,
but it should be done legally.