The Youth and Sports Minister of Liberia, Eugene Len Nagbe, reported on Thursday that 70% of Liberia’s population was unskilled and unlikely to be productive in the future as a result. The minister made the statement at the SKD Sports Complex, while signing a memorandum of understanding with Mercy Corps to reactivate a young cadet program designed to train Liberian youth. The new memorandum aims to follow 100 select Liberian students through college and offer them vocational training. So far, approximately 3,500 students have benefited from the program.
“If we don’t develop the skills of these people and make them relevant to society, we all will feel the backlash. Almost 70% of our population is unskillful and this is a recipe for chaos,” said the minister. “If we don’t ensure that the lives of these young people are improved by developing them and giving them the necessary skills, we will have a population with a bunch of unskillful people, which is dangerous for our society.”
Mercy Corps is an NGO which has worked in Liberia since 2002, with the strategy of “accelerating Liberia’s economic development by addressing youth employment and local capacity-building.” Director of Mercy Corps, Madam Allison Huggins, was at the event, pledging US$51,000 for the reactivated program.
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Written by Sean Yi