After months of preparation, the 2006 National Youth Conference and Festival (NAYCONF) would kick off today in Brikama, Western Region.

According to a press release from the Gambia National Youth Council (NYC) the opening ceremony, which was scheduled for 4pm, has been changed to 10am.

The release started that due to the prior engagements of His Excellency Dr Alhagie Yahya AJJ Jammeh and his cabinet, the NYC in collaboration with the National Organising Organisation of NAYCONF inform the general public, that the official opening of the NAYCONF in Brikama has been rescheduled from 3pm to 10am today Monday 18th December 2006 in Brikama, this is to enable the president of the Republic of the Gambia and his cabinet to grace the ground breaking event.

This year’s biannual national youth gathering last from the 18th –24th December 2006 and would be attended by 1500 youths from across the country.

The theme of this year’s festival is “Youth Empowerment and Effective Participation in Nation Building” and the other sub-themes to be discussed are: Youths and MDGs, Youths and Migration, Employment creation, Sexual and Reproductive Health, Youth and HIV/AIDS, Good governance and democracy and National Youth Policy and the Gambia National Youth Council Act.

The other components of the festival would be Sports, Culture, Awards and beauty contest.

The sporting events to be competed are: Football, Basketball, Volleyball, Handball, Wrestling, and indoor games like Scrabble and Ludo.