By Jacob Onuha Nelson
The Minister of Youth and Sports, Mary Nawai Martin, has urged the youth to stop laziness and unproductive games.
The call followed a rising case of unemployment, limited access to education, and political instability.
Addressing the youth last week during the Youth Policy event in Juba, the minister stated that some youths don’t want to hustle, and yet they are staying at home idly.
“Some of the youth today, they don’t want to do casual work. You are looking for white-collar jobs, which you cannot even get because some of us are reducing our age to still maintain our seats in the offices you are seeing in the ministries,” Nawai said.
She encouraged the youth to do whatever work they come across, even if it is washing clothes for rich people; do it and get it for school fees.
“If it is washing the cars, do it. Don’t feel ashamed of the work that you will do and get some money from it,” Nawai stated.
The minister advised the youth not to be involved in wrong armed groups.
“Feel ashamed when you are going to steal because you will be caught and you will be beaten, you will be exposed as this is a thief, this is a robbery, this is a what, and they will call you all the names,” she noted.
However, the youth in South Sudan has been facing challenges of lack of opportunities, conflict, and economic hardship that are often mislabelled as laziness, according to several sources.