Editor,

It is no hidden secret that some Gambian youth spend precious time in the ghettos, listening to music, smoking marijuana, making utopian suggestions and endlessly drinking Attaya.  These places perhaps should be abandoned because they adversely retard development.

Indeed, it’s disheartening to know that many of the youth found at the ghettos are intelligent and talented guys, capable of making meteoric and splendid differences in the lives of many.  It is a fact that if the youth abandon the ghettos, they have the potentials to become professional carpenters, motto mechanics, electricians, plumbers, just to name a few.  These are very lucrative professions and above all the Gambia needs a good number of experts in these areas.

To be candid, any young person who is serious about becoming successful in life needs to avoid the ghetto and focuses on skill acquisition and intellectual enhancement. There is no denying that the youth constitute the able bodied group and they are capable of doing both technical and practical jobs, provided they have the requisite skills and.  A nation will no doubt witness some remarkable and splendid developments within a pretty short time, if its human resource base is skillful.

Today, The  Gambia is full of beautiful buildings and structures scattered every where.  All these beautiful and gigantic structures were erected by technically skillful personnel.  This probably should be a motivating factor for all Gambians, particularly the youth to engage themselves in some practical skills acquisition avenues.  Perhaps the best thing to do is to enroll for the NYSS training programme.

Indeed, The Gambia National Youth Service Scheme (NYSS) has immensely contributed towards the success of many young Gambians. It is needless to assert that it was for the training most of the former Corps Members of NYSS received that paved the way for higher training and eventually better paid jobs and in some cases, self employment.  In fact some former corps members now operate their own enterprises.  Is this not enough proof that skills acquisition worths the while?

Therefore, it is not a hyperbole to state that government’s decision to establish NYSS is unquestionable and that it aims at ensuring that the Gambia becomes self reliant.  This is again one of the countless manifestations of the true nature the current political dispensation geared towards the meteoric transformation of the Gambia into a modern state.

Knowing fully well that skills acquisition is a sine-qua-non for any meaningful development, it is now the responsibility of Gambians, most especially the youth, to enroll at NYSS with a view to enrich their chances of becoming beacons of advancement.

Marcel Mendy

Churchill’s Town