Swapo Party Youth League secretary Ephraim Nekongo said in order to develop the youth as the country’s future, they should first be empowered as the most important step in grooming them.
This was his view during a youth training and recruitment workshop in /Ganikobes, outside Tses, //Kharas region last weekend.
“If our youth are empowered properly, they will not be distracted and confused by irrelevant political statements or subject themselves to substance abuse and crime,” he explained.
In terms of the increased budgetary provision for this financial year for the youth ministry, he said a commission has looked into whether the younger segment of the Namibian population has really benefitted from the increased N$50 million budgetary allocation earmarked to renovate and upgrade the Independence Stadium.
“Why should our national soccer team after 32 years of independence play qualifying games in neighbouring South Africa costing government millions of Namibian dollars whilst, by upgrading our own stadium, we can save on these expenses and even charge other countries playing on it as a means of much needed income generation?” Nekongo further denounced the notion that empowering the youth is putting money in their pockets.
“The N$1.4 billion allocated to the Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) in this challenging economic climate in the country is something you, as members of our youth, should really appreciate and make optimal use of, to empower yourself in education and take over tomorrow’s leadership,” he urged the youngsters at the training session.
He reasoned tertiary institutions should rather diversify their academic curriculums to speak to the current employment market demand.
“Why should so many of our graduates sit unemployed because they all study in fields where the portion of the employment industry is already saturated like teaching while we have to import skilled manpower for more specialised jobs like scientists? Why should a big number of kids scramble for one position due to all studying in the same field?” he questioned.
The youth leader also gave the assurance that the youth will definitely receive priority when it comes to upcoming recruitment from the Namibian Police Force, Defence Force and Correctional Service, which can be seen as another way of empowering them.
He also encouraged the trainees to participate in platforms created like the National Youth Service and National Youth Council for purposes of training them to upgrade their socio-economic living conditions.
“We will furthermore engage the Development Bank of Namibia to allocate more resources to be accessed by our youth through loans in order for them to become employment creators instead of job seekers at the end of the day,” he promised.
Nekongo, while referring to the Neckartal Dam outside Keetmanshoop as a major source of youth empowerment, strongly emphasised that government should avail some of the land to young farmers for irrigation purposes in order to grow produce for self-consumption and supply local customers as a means of income.
He also bemoans the fact that Namibia, during the Covid-19 pandemic had to import caskets whilst wood is available in the Kavango regions and that unemployed youth could have been trained to manufacture these coffins locally, thereby ensuring funds were retained and circulated in the country.
The SPYL secretary said the party leadership in other regions in the country will come up with similar youth training initiatives for the betterment of the younger generation.
- sklukowski@nepc.com.na