the government defends its employment and youth policy
In Senegal, the issue of irregular emigration was widely discussed during the government’s press conference on Tuesday, November 24 in Dakar. While the NGO Alarm Phone spoke of 480 migrants dying at sea in a week at the end of October, Interior Minister Antoine Félix Diome has still not provided details on the number of victims. On the other hand, various ministers defended the government’s policy of supporting youth and vocational training to combat the phenomenon.
as reported from Dakar, Thea Ollivier
Vocational training and entrepreneurship, these are the key words in the fight against the emigration of young people, Dame Diop, Minister of Employment, repeated several times. Objective: to improve the qualifications of young people and then their employability.
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And the results are already there, according to the minister: between 2012 and 2019, Senegal went from 37,000 to 65,000 formal jobs.
“We have taken a qualitative step in job creation, which is why the lack of jobs is one reason but it is not the only reason for irregular emigration. The goal today is to raise awareness so that our young people understand that it is possible to stay in this country and support themselves in their profession. ”
The decline in income linked to the coronavirus crisis, the European Eldorado that was sold to young people, rumors of paper regulation and, above all, pressure from parents and families … These are the reasons that first and foremost explain emigration. discharge Néné Fatoumata Tall, Minister for Youth:
“The emigration problem is not necessarily linked to a bad or absent youth policy. Within the framework of entrepreneurship, young people have been granted funding. Direct financing with 95,000 young people and indirect financing with 105,000 affected young people. “
In 2019, almost 17% of Senegalese over the age of fifteen were unemployed.
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