232NEWS, FREETOWN
The Minister of Information and Civic Education (MoICE), Chernor Bah has told journalists that government will keep to its 500,000 jobs as promised to the young people running to the re-election of President Bio.
He made this statement on Tuesday 15th August during the Weekly Press Conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Tower Hill in Freetown.
The Minister also spoke about the Bio’s government “BIG FIVE” promises to the people of Sierra Leone which comprises of: Feed Salone, Human Capital Development, Youth Employments, Infrastructure and Technology.
Making his statement, Minister of Youth Affairs, Mohamed Orman Bangura, said that before his appointment to office, there was no trust, confidence and that the young people do not have self-esteem to advocate.
We have always said that “You cannot work for young people when you do not work with them,” he stated.
He furthered that, there are young people who believe in today for today, entrepreneurship, people who believe in skills, and graduates that believe that they will get a good paying job when they graduate.
He also mentioned that the biggest program that they did last year was Agriculture.
He continued that, the current and future of Sierra Leone is Agriculture and entrepreneurship.
“With the free quality education that president Bio introduced, with time to come we will have lots of educative farmers that will not use hoes and cutlass to do their harvest instead they will use tractors for which the president bought 2,000 tractors, and 4-8,000 farm equipment’s,” he disclosed.
He mentioned that society has ignored some people because of the car wash that they do for a living. “Today we send people in jail for minor crimes and when they are released from prison, society frowned at them, tagging them as Ex- Convict,” he explained.
Talking about access to finance, the Minster said, when young people have projects and need finance ask the bank for loan, they are asked to bring in a house document or other important documents before granting them the loan.
He noted that when you allow young people to take loan, they will know that their integrity, credibility and their future is tied to it.
He also talked about green skills for young people which they will do without effect on the environment such as clean energy, digital skills, e-commerce.
“I can tell people that over 400 people have permanent jobs already. E-commerce is the fastest way to sell your products online. You can buy different things that you need online,” he stated.
Noting that there is money in Agriculture, the Minister said that young people can create their own ideas on how to go about farming and generate income.
“I stayed on Tiktok for two hours to learn different things on Agriculture and later implement them,” he said.
He also said that the jobs are available but they have only limited people that are satisfied for them.
He also made mention that before President Bio became the President of Sierra Leone in 2018, London Mining, Africa Minerals have shut down operations because of bad governance and bad business.
He then ensured that through President Bio’s leadership, those businesses came back to life and created many job opportunities for the people of Sierra Leone.
He also talked about “Kush” that is affecting the youth, adding that Sierra Leoneans should be the one advising one another about the bad effects of kush, so that people will stop using it.
“We have never gotten a government that has engaged young people than this present government” he stated.
He said that they now have young people attaining high positions such as Chiefdom Youth Leaders, Village Youth Leaders, District Youth Leaders, and National Youth Leaders.
“Young people become addictive to drugs when they take it once out of curiosity and they become addicted to it which make them to lose their health balance, he explained.
He said that, Sierra Leoneans should help one another to stop Kush from destroying the youth.
He also said that people should report any information about those that are selling the products to the police and they will be dealt with.
