(Muslim youth to promote youth welfare)

Story: Musah Yahaya Jafaru
THE African Muslim Youth Congress (AMYC) has ended a four-day workshop in Accra, with a commitment to promote the well-being of the youth in Africa.
Participants gave a promise to focus on education and the strengthening of bilateral ties among African countries.
Sponsored by the World Islamic Call Society (WICS), the workshop attracted participants from African countries, including Ghana, Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Sierra Leone and South Africa.
Addressing the participants, the Director of the Bureau for Islamic Call Centres, Sheikh Amar Abdul Salama Hareba, stressed the need for opportunities to be made available for the growth of the youth, since they were the future leaders.
“Advancement will come about only when we pay special attention to the youth,” he stressed.
Sheikh Abdul Salam expressed worry that globalisation had had a negative impact on the attitude of the youth, who formed about 60 per cent of the world’s population.
He, therefore, called for concerted efforts to reverse the situation.
Sheikh Abdul Salam said special emphasis should be placed on the education of the girl child, imparting of vocational skills to the youth and creating other skills acquisition avenues for the youth.
Besides, he said, the youth should know their religious obligations and shun any acts of violence.
Sheikh Abdul Salam stressed that developing the capacity of the youth brought about economic and social development.
The General Secretary of the AMYC, Mr Abraham Bafelo, blamed the current global economic slowdown on the unbridled capitalism of the West.
He said the West had for the past decades propagated the view that it was only through capitalism that a nation could develop.
Mr Bafelo called on African countries to initiate their own systems of economic development relevant to their circumstances.
That, he said, was the only Africa could achieve any meaningful socio-economic development.