Gambian youth mourns lost colleagues in Libyan sea

Illegal migration through the high seas is a horrific venture that involves mainly young people, who form the useful human resources of any nation.

Their family members or friends who have already succeeded their trials into Europe could either influence their engagement into this disastrous journey or their own mistaken mentality and unawareness on the dangers associated with the sea. In fact, the boats that majority of them use for the journey are relatively not fit for the ocean.

Over the years, The Gambia has registered an unprecedented loss of its young people who were engaged in the macabre venture. This has sent a signal of concern for the central government to lay down strategies and ways to redirect the course of young people from taking the risky journey, by establishing institutions purely for the young people, where they can learn skills to make their ends meet. However, these opportunities have been abused and neglected for Europe.

The recent accident in the Libyan sea, which involved the loss of over two hundred lives, including Gambian youths has prompted some concern youths who are working in the course of young people. The number of Gambian youths who lost their lives in the incident was a brunt on everyone to add their weight for a stoppage to further occurrence of such a nation wide mourning.

Pa-Malick Ceesay, executive secretary of the National Youth Council said “it was unfortunate that some number of Gambian young people were involved in the accident.”  He observed that the issue of illegal migration in this recent time has been surrounded by some number of factors that included the young people’s un-readiness to take up skilful jobs, neither the apprenticeship ones. Parents and families who used to help in financing those young people, he went on, are also contributors to this problem. On the other hand, he added, “I would like to challenge everybody, most particularly the media, to mount an aggressive campaign in all the different languages in the country on the dangers surrounding illegal migration, so that the migrants, families and the general public can be effectively sensitised,” he said.

He explained that it is evident that the National Youth Council is doing all that it can to get young people informed about the opportunities available for them in the country, as well as sensitising them on the dangers associated with illegal migration. Executive Secretary Ceesay then put all the youth- serving organisations to task, urging that they should henceforth include youth and illegal migration as a top priority in both their meetings and programs. He also maintained that in their quest to also help in addressing the problem of illegal migration, plans are underway to conduct regional and national forums to map out strategies and ways forward to examine the continuous involvement of young people in the risky adventure, saying, “even though they are dying everyday.” He then joined the rest of the country and on behalf of the NYC to extend his regret to the deceased families and prayed for their souls to rest in perfect peace.

For Bubacarr Jabbi, chairman of Operation No Back way to Europe, the incident was indeed a loss on the Gambia’s youth sector. He observed that the young people should make the maximum utility of the opportunities for them in the country. “To address the issue of illegal migration,” he said, families needed to be sensitised to stop financing their young people to take up the deadly adventures. He added that the young people also should discourage the mentality that without travelling to Europe, they cannot achieve their goals. He also extended his deep condolence to the bereaved families, describing it as a blow on the country’s youth sector.