By Julius Konton
GBARNGA, Bong County — Liberia has taken a dramatic step to confront its youth unemployment crisis with the official launch of the National Cadet Program, a flagship initiative designed to propel more than 1,000 university graduates and seniors into the professional workforce. The program, unveiled by Finance and Development Planning Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan, is being hailed as one of the most ambitious youth empowerments drives of President Joseph Nyuma Boakai’s administration since taking office in 2024.
“This program is about hope, opportunity, discipline, integrity, and practical experience,” Ngafuan declared to a packed hall of government officials, development partners, students, and parents. “It is about preparing Liberia’s young people not merely to seek jobs, but to become productive professionals capable of leading national transformation.”
For six months, cadets will be embedded in ministries, state‑owned enterprises, and private institutions, gaining hands‑on experience, technical exposure, and mentorship. In a country where unemployment and underemployment remain stubborn obstacles, the initiative is being framed as a defining intervention to bridge the gap between academic theory and workplace reality.
Liberia, home to 5.5 million people, has one of Africa’s youngest populations, with more than 60 percent under the age of 35. Analysts warn that without urgent action, the nation risks squandering its demographic dividend. The cadet program, they argue, could be the game‑changer that transforms graduates from job seekers into job creators.
Ngafuan reflected on his own journey, recalling his formative internship at the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company in 1988. “Practical exposure changes lives,” he said. “The lessons learned in the workplace often become the foundation for future leadership.”
The cadet program is part of a sweeping youth empowerment strategy. Ngafuan spotlighted the Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Bank (YEIB), a US$18 million initiative launched with the African Development Bank to support 30,000 youth‑led businesses and create over 100,000 jobs. “This administration believes Liberia’s youth must become creators of wealth, innovation, and opportunity,” he emphasized.
Adding to the momentum, Ngafuan announced that Liberia had secured the relocation of the ECOWAS Youth and Sports Center from Burkina Faso to Monrovia — a diplomatic coup expected to boost regional influence and generate new opportunities for young Liberians.
In a fiery defense of the Boakai administration’s record, Ngafuan revealed that Liberia’s national budget has surged from US$738 million to US$1.3 billion in just over two years. He credited stronger revenue mobilization, improved tax administration, and anti‑corruption measures. “Today we are discussing supplementary budgets because revenues are increasing,” he declared, drawing cheers from the crowd.
The additional revenues, he noted, are financing recruitment into the armed forces, police, immigration, healthcare, and education — tangible evidence, he argued, that Liberia is “going forward.”
Ngafuan also pointed to sweeping infrastructure projects: roads linking Zwedru, Fish Town, and Harper; highway rehabilitation from Monrovia to Bo Waterside; and plans to construct or rehabilitate more than 100 schools nationwide. Electricity expansion in Monrovia, Buchanan, and along the Roberts International Airport corridor is underway, while healthcare workers at C.B. Dunbar Hospital have seen salary increases.
In one of the ceremony’s most emotional moments, Ngafuan urged cadets to embrace humility, discipline, teamwork, and integrity. “Being an honor roll student does not automatically transform someone into an honor‑roll professional,” he cautioned. He challenged them to become agents of change: “Where you find darkness, spread your light. Where you find hopelessness, share hope. Where you find corruption, demonstrate honesty and integrity.”
Observers say the National Cadet Program will serve as a litmus test for Liberia’s broader youth agenda. If successful, it could reduce graduate unemployment, strengthen workforce readiness, and restore confidence among a generation hungry for opportunity. As hundreds of cadets rose to applause in Gbarnga, the moment carried a sense of cautious optimism — a symbolic step toward a brighter future.
