For the first time in the history of the 28-year old Horn of African nation, secondary school students and undergraduates will be assigned to national services duties to acquire further training and resilience upon graduation.
His Excellency, the incumbent President of the Republic of Somaliland, Musa Bihi Abdi, on Sunday, re-affirmed one of the key points in his campaign speeches pre-running the November 2017 presidential election.
“I have started a funding account in anticipation of the upcoming National Service Program where the government will check in a monthly deposit of 1Billion Somaliland Shillings for the next 12 months,” the president said, intimating that the program will start on the 13th.
President Bihi also spoke of another account he called ‘Youth Development Fund’ in which his government, he revealed deposited a first two billion Somaliland shillings.
“This fund aims to encourage young entrepreneurs who come up with winning ideas for start-up businesses in order to create more and more job openings in the labor market,” the President said.
“In direct response to the debilitating prevalence of unemployment among the younger, learned generations in the country, my administration is revisiting the Labor Code in order to provide more space and opportunity to nationals,” President Bihi Said. “Where a national can fit, no expatriate will be employed,” he added.
President Bihi addressed the nation and a joint sitting of the House of representatives and the Elders, for the first time, Sunday, since his inauguration as the fifth president – and the third elected through the ballot box – of the Republic.
The President outlined his government’s achievements during its first 100 days, as well as major areas he outlined as priorities for immediate action touching on security, Somaliland-Somalia relations, economic development, social affairs, infrastructure, international diplomacy, health, education and governance.
