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Creation of Jobs at Family, Private Levels Can Curb Youth Migration: Priest in Ivory Coast

Credit: Public Domain

By Magdalene Kahiu

Abidjan, 08 May, 2021 / 2:15 pm (ACI Africa).

A member of the Clergy in Ivory Coast has urged the establishment of employment opportunities at family and private levels, saying such initiatives have the potentiality of curbing youth migration.

“Today we must think about creating family businesses, private companies; this will give jobs to young people who will not think about crossing the Mediterranean,” the Secretary General of the  Episcopal Conference of Ivory Coast (CECCI), Fr. Emmanuel Wohi Nin, has been quoted as saying in a Monday, May 3 report. 

Ivory Coast ranks tenth in the number of migrants moving to Europe according to 2017 statistics by Pew Research Centre. 

An August 2020 report by the United Nations’ (UN) International Organization for Migration (IOM) indicates that about 25,000 Ivorians had arrived in Italy by sea since 2016.  

“The problem is that young people look to everything outside their borders as a model of development and as a model of social success … Some still think they can follow obscure paths to succeed in soccer in Europe,’ the Head of the Directorate for Ivorians Abroad (DGIE), Issiaka Konaté, told InfoMigrants in March 2020. 

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Mr. Konaté added that while many Ivorian youths desire to leave the country, there are some business opportunities that are yet to be exploited. 

In the May 3 report by Agenzia Fides, Fr. Nin also appeals to private investors in the country to offer jobs to the young people “so that the hope of the population and young Ivorians is not directed exclusively to the State, but also to the business world.” 

The rate of unemployment in Ivory Coast increased to 3.5 percent in December 2020 from 3.17 percent in the previous year, the World Bank reported.

In the report published by Agenzia Fides, the Priest who was speaking during the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, May 1, also calls on Ivorians who have been employed in different positions to offer the best services. 

“When the Lord has allowed us to have stable jobs, it is so that we can give the best of ourselves,” says Fr. Nin. 

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He adds that when employees offer the best services at their places of work, the effort “pleases ourselves, then God.”

Magdalene Kahiu

Magdalene Kahiu is a Kenyan journalist with passion in Church communication. She holds a Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Currently, she works as a journalist for ACI Africa.

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