By Rohey Jadama The National Youth Council (NYC) is about to conduct a research on Illegal Migration, also known as the ‘Backway‘, in the Gambia, as revealed by Mr. Alagie Jarju, the Program Manager of National Youth Council, who also doubles as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Activista, a Global Youth Network of Action Aid International the Gambia. Mr. Jarju said this at a panel discussion on Illegal Migration at the Christian Council organized by Activista the Gambia on the 29th of December, 2014. Elaborating on the main objective of this research, he said it is to know the reasons why the young people are going to Europe through the back way as it is not only the unemployed who undertake the journey but the employed as well. He said they also want to have statistics on the numbers of young people who died during the course of the journey as well as those who succeeded. Mr. Jarju said the conclusions of this research would help efforts to come up with appropriate solutions and projects that will help to curb its prevalence and reduce its incidence. He noted that adequate time should be devoted to skills development and that the curriculum needs to be checked to ensure subjects such as Technical drawing, Wood work, and Metal work are provided. He said skills development should be started at the grassroots level and not to be reserved only for those students who have poor results such as aggregate 54. He said no country can develop if only one side of the economy is moving. For his part, the Director of Action Aid International the Gambia (AAITG), Mr. Omar Badjie said the youth are a population that can make development to be realised in this country. He said migration has both positive and negative consequences, as some people will succeed and send hard currencies into the Gambia which is good for the economy and others would die before reaching their targeted destinations. AAITG Director revealed that his organisation would be embarking on research on youth unemployment and as well develops the capacity of the youth on literacy, good governance, entrepreneurial skills as well as support their organizations and networking. He concluded that the best way to influence a policy is to network with other like minded organisations.]]>
