SoS Faal urges stakeholders to share their resources in youth development -(Culled from the Gambia Daily Observer) The secretary of state for Youth and Sports, Mr Samba Faal, has urged stakeholders to share whatever resources they have in order to improve the status of Gambian youths. Speaking at a press conference organised by the National Youth Service Scheme (NYSS) at its headquarters in Fajara, Mr Faal said whatever resources were invested in our youths, would help sustain our economy, alleviate poverty and unemployment. He added that through the intervention of the present government and President Jammeh - a youth himself with a vision for the youth- much emphasis has been put on youth development such as the setting up of the NYSS. Mr Faal said since he was appointed the SoS for youths and sports, what he had seen on the ground on youth issues was more impressive than what was in the files. He noted that the NYSS has improved youths development significantly in all its scope. “NYSS Nyaniberi farm has great potential for The Gambia and there are plans ahead to create new vendors and introduce the vegetable garden as they are marketable up to international standard,” he said. Mr Faal disclosed that as soon as the corpers are fully trained the farm has the potential of going commercial. He said the mentors and corps members on apprenticeship training have lived up to expectation during his tour of familiarisation. He however suggested that the more youths are trained, the more resources would remain with us. Mr Faal commended President Jammeh for his support and encouragement and the collaborating partners of NYSS such as the UN phase project, Gamtel, Arab-Gambia Islamic Bank and Standard Chartered. Others speakers include Mr Sebastain Njie executive director, NYSS, Dembo Badjie, permanent Secretary DOSYS, Ebou A D Corr, NYSS board chairman and Sheriff Gomez principal administrative officer. NYSS and youth development The secretary of state for youth and sports, Hon Samba Faal, has said NYSS should be the executing arm of government in youth development programmes. SoS Faal made the remarks at a meeting with the NYSS Board of Directors in his office. He said there had been mass delivery in the services of the NYSS and commended the board members for the steadfastness of the programmes. “NYSS is the leading youth development arm of this country and I am impressed with what I have seen it doing in developing the youths to acquire technology skills,” he said. Mr Faal added that his department would give all necessary support to see that NYSS Internet Cafe Youth Counselling Centre became a reality. He appealed to the Nigerian Technical Assistant Teams to continue supporting the NYSS when the need arose. Dembo Badjie, permanent secretary DoSYS, commended the State Department for Finance and Economic Affairs for supporting the NYSS apprenticeship programme with D1.3 million. “The NYSS is the only visible youth institution that has produced 700 Gambians with life skills,” he said. He commended the press for the wide coverage given to the NYSS and his department in the improvement of youths. Sebastian Njie, executive director revealed that the apprenticeship programme introduced in 2002 was successful in promoting basic skills to school leaving students. For expansion purposes, Mr Njie called on SoS Faal to intervene in order to help them with a piece of land for a secretariat. He said they’ve already worked on a project proposal for a youth Internet Cafe and Counselling Centre. Other speakers included Sheriff Gomez, NYSS principal administrative officer, Nyang Njie of the State Department for Finance and Economic Affairs and Chief Greg F Anyia, NYSS outgoing head of administration There is a time in the life of every problem when it is big enough to see, yet small enough to solve. -Mike- Levitt- _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~