CHAIRMAN of the Mbokonavera 4 Youth Group, Sammy James Au has called on the national government, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), business houses and relevant authorities to continue supporting youths by providing youth engagement programs to keep them from involving in anti-social activities in communities.
Mr Au made the call during an interview with Solomon Star at the International World Youth Day 2024 held on Monday at the HCC Youth Hub in Chinatown.
“I want to call on the [national] government, NGOs and other relevant stakeholders and community leaders to see the importance of the participation of youths at all levels in our society and to continue to support them with relevant youth engagement programs and activities at the provincial and community levels.
“As you see nowadays, many youths, including students, are involved in a lot of activities such as drunkenness, smoking of harmful drug substances such as marijuana, Copen, stealing and other crimes.
“Further to taking kwaso, marijuana and copen themselves, they also sell them to their peers and others to make money since they are not engaged in meaningful activities with which they can get themselves occupied, realize their potentials and contribute positively to national development endeavors,” Mr Au said.
Mr Au said youths make up 70 percent of the national population, which is a significant portion of the population and potential workforce and leaders who can contribute in a great way to the socio-economic development of the country and enable it to meet the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
“Some of the main problems affecting our youths at the community level is unemployment and the lack of opportunities.
“I can say that 95 percent of our youths are unemployed, which means only 5 percent are employed in paid jobs and others in self-employment activities such as running small businesses at home.”
Mr Au said some youths are very talented in sewing, music, sports and trade skills such as furniture-making and carpentry but lack the network to link them to the right people and organizations to help them excel through their talents.
By RAYMOND HULANGA
Solomon Star, Honiara
