Yeumbeul Nord, January 4 (APS) – Youth, the most important segment of Senegalese society, are still struggling to participate en masse in monthly national clean-up days since the first edition launched in June 2024 by the President of the Republic Bassirou Diomaye Faye .
At the Comico city, a military construction cooperative located in the commune of Yeumbeul Nord, in the suburbs of Dakar, where President Faye proceeded, on Saturday, to the official launch of the eighth edition of this day of citizen mobilization aimed at involving the populations, alongside State services, with the momentum of management and preservation of their living environment, the youth hardly stood out, in terms of participation, compared to the districts which hosted the previous editions.
Created in 2004, this city is mainly inhabited by families of soldiers, gendarmes and firefighters.
At the Comico city football field, where nearly 2,000 residents live across six neighborhoods (series A, B, C, D1, D2 and E), young people are absent.
On site, the military, firefighters, gendarmes, active police officers represent, alongside agents of the National Integrated Waste Management Company (SONAGED), retired soldiers and a few adult women, the overwhelming majority of the public came to take part in the launch activities of this edition.
The President of the Republic Bassirou Diomaye Faye, in his speech, congratulated all the officers, non-commissioned officers and non-commissioned members who have “materialized today, once again, the Army-Nation concept carried by the highest military authorities in the country.
On this occasion, he expressed his satisfaction and congratulations to all defense and security forces for their mobilization on this citizen investment day as in previous editions.
The Ministry of the Armed Forces was responsible for coordinating and organizing this 8th edition of the National Day ”Sétal Sunu Rééw”, under the theme: “Seetal sa gokh, aar sa yaram: alongside the citizens , the armed forces are involved.
”As for the administrative authorities, the territorial authorities, the municipalities, I encourage them and call on them to perpetuate this beneficial activity for all of us, and which begins with good behavior of our environment,” launched the Head of State .
”Today we are holding the eighth edition, and the challenge to perpetuate these national investment days remains constant throughout our presidential mandate, so that we definitively inscribe in our DNA, the instinct to make clean, but above all not to dirty it,” he said.
“This is what I call on all citizens, young people, whatever their form of commitment to the country,” he added, in the presence of the Minister of the Armed Forces, General Birame Diop, from the Minister of Communication, Telecommunications and Digital Affairs, Aliou Sall.
In front of a crowd mobilized for this day mainly composed of active and retired soldiers like Youssouf Sakho, former president of the association for the development of the Comico city of Yeumbeul north, everything seems to show that the road is still long for membership. mass participation of young people in this citizen initiative.
Mr. Sakho deplored the lack of enthusiasm among young people for cleaning days. ”I was president of a sports and cultural association (ASC), and the observation with these associations is that young people confine themselves solely to the sporting aspect to the detriment of taking care of their living environment” , he noted.
”The youth of the ASCs do not take ownership of the management of their living environment. We have a wait-and-see youth, not committed to one-off actions,’ he lamented, suggesting as a solution to this lack of commitment to review ”the education system”.
»It is the only place where we educate and prepare the future of young people. This is the only framework where we can encourage them to understand the meaning of civic activities,” he said, deploring the low presence of young people from the Comico city at the launch of this edition.
”I feel less the presence of young people on this site of the Comico city. Normally, young people should constitute 70% of the number of participants in this launch day but we have more presence of soldiers’ wives, retirees and toddlers,” noted the former soldier.
Mamadou Camara, communications manager for the Yeumbeul Debout collective, an association of nearly 300 members, in turn deplored “the low participation of young people” in the clean-up days, launched by the President of the Republic.
”Young people still do not understand the issues and the direction of this day of citizen mobilization. They must understand that the elders have already served their time, it is up to us young people to take up the present and future challenges,” he said.
For him, ”we must continue to raise awareness among young people so that they understand the challenges of this citizen initiative”. “I invite young people to massively take ownership of these days of human investment,” he said, surrounded by members of the Yeumbeul Debout collective.
According to Mamadou Camara, ”not being interested in the development policies of your country is a lack of civic-mindedness”.
Along the same lines, Pape Ibrahima Diagne, municipal councilor in Yeumbeul north and resident of the Comico city, indicated that the city’s youth association got involved very early on to raise awareness among local youth about the issues of civic activities. .
”We are part of this dynamic, but we must recognize that the fight is not yet completely won. We continue to carry out our awareness activities in the Comico city where, it must be said, we also benefit from an education based on military values,” he underlined.
”The President of the Republic is a young man, and he showed us the way. So it’s up to young people to follow it, to work usefully for the community before accessing responsibilities,” he said, assuring that their association will continue its awareness-raising activities.
”I think that the coming of the Head of State here can help boost the commitment of other young people in the city to citizen mobilization days,” said the municipal councilor in Yeumbeul North.
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