At the closing ceremony for the training, the Director of the ECOWAS Youth and Sports Development Centre, Mr. Francis Chuks Njoaguani, charged the participants to optimize the benefit of the training in order to realize a future of their dream.
Citing depressing statistics from the International Labour organization (ILO),the director noted that some 72 per cent of young people live on less than an average of two US dollars a day; constitute about 60 per cent of the jobless population, mostly disadvantaged youth from countries coming out of crises and young ladies.
In response to these challenges, Mr. Njoaguani said ECOWAS was taking concrete steps to address youth issues and pledged the institution’s commitment to improve the lives of young people.
He assured that ECOWAS would follow up on the individual progress of the graduands in their respective Member States as part of the process of evaluating the programme and urged the beneficiaries to send in their evaluations in order to enrich the training.
In his remarks, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Benin, Mr. Martin Alowanou Lougbegnon, stated that the youth constitute a critical segment of the ECOWAS population as the most active.
While noting that the training was to enable the youth take charge of their social, professional and economic integration as well as improve their well-being, Mr. Lougbegnon stated that the Songhai training was part of the strategy to ensure their participation in the construction of the ECOWAS Community and inculcate in them an entrepreneurial spirit.
The Head of the Economics Department of the Songhai Centre, Mr. Guy Loueke, also exhorted the beneficiaries to justify their training and become role models for other young people in the region.
The youths through their representatives, Mr. Diohou Achille of Benin (Francophone), Miss Sebastiao Bangazui of Guinea Bissau (Lusophone) and Mr. Abdulsalam Sulaiman of Nigeria (Anglophone), assured ECOWAS and other stakeholders of their readiness to succeed and make the region proud of their investment in youths.
Source: ECOWAS Press Release