Monrovia – The Ministry of Youth and Sports in collaboration with key youth groups in the country along with development partners on Tuesday, October 29, celebrated the 50th National Youth Day.
The celebration was also blended with the launch of the National Youth Policy and Action plan for the period of four years (2019-2023).
The event, which started with a parade, brought together students from different parts of the country, youth groups, heads of different government ministries and agencies, developmental partners, among others.
The day was being celebrated under the theme: the role of youths in maintaining the peace and democracy through the rule of law.
Giving the keynote address, the Deputy Minister for Fiscal Affairs at the Ministry of Finance and Development planning, Samora Wolokollie stressed that the government of Liberia has a greater task in making sure that young people play a key role in the society.
“Therefore we must provide the appropriate atmosphere and conditions for their wellbeing. The youth must have access to adequate and affordable education; the youth must have access to equal justice and the youth who are bound to be the future leaders of our country, must have access to quality jobs,” Min. Wolokollie stressed.
He stated that the government under the leadership of President Weah is fully committed to “ensuring that we provide all the necessary resources in promoting youth empowerment because they are the fulcrum for which society resides.”
Affirming that the country is facing “grave” economic challenges, the Deputy Minister of Finance said “no matter the circumstances, young people need to be prioritized.
“Young people serve as the nerve center for our social, economic and political advancement. With youths comes, energy, optimism and dynamism” he stressed, adding that it is therefore incumbent upon the government along with its partners to provide all of the support needed for youth empowerment.
“We must encourage the youth to engage in positive ventures that will prepare them for future challenges and opportunities; we must provide them with skilled training, financial resources, quality learning environment so as to provide the best outcome of the result that we expect,” Wolokollie added.
“For our nation to succeed in this century its people must be educated, skilled and marketable and I am confident that the youth will rise to the occasion in today’s visionaries and tomorrow’s leaders.”
Marking remarks on behalf of all the UN agencies in Liberia, the Resident Representative of the United Nations Population Fund UNFPA, Dr. Bannet Ndyanabangi stressed that a lot of young people in the country still live below the poverty belt “making them not to afford their basic needs.”
“They lack access to vital resources, and are disproportionately represented amongst the world’s poor. They have the most to gain if we succeed in eradicating poverty, and will have the most to lose if we fail,” the UNFPA boss stressed.
“The benefit of this population can only be harnessed if the youth are productively employed; save more and invest more; and are well educated to ensure high return for their labor.”
For his part, the Secretary General of the Liberia National Student Union (LINSU), Isaac Muapoh stated that there can be a stronger bond among the young people and the government.
“As we celebrate this 50th anniversary, it is my hope that moving forward we can be able to have a stronger bond in working together so that the issues of bureaucracy as it relates to what benefits the young people, will cease to be challenged,” Muapoh said.
“Now is the time that young people stand up as it relates to organizing their different initiatives, in terms of implementing them and in terms of bringing on board practical solutions that will stop the issues of violence against young people; that will also stop the issue of our students protesting in the streets before salaries are been disbursed to their instructors, among others.”
“This is a document that we have been apart of since the insertion and they didn’t just come out of the blue to put some issues down for us; it is something that was developed by the young people because there was a national consultation across the country,” added Banica S. Elliot, Second Vice President of FLY.
She called on her colleagues to make adequate use of the Youth Action by holding their leaders accountable.
The National Youth Day is a day set aside for young people to come together, look at challenges facing them and draw a road map on how to settle those challenges at the same time recommendations them to National government.