By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso & Sandra Chukwugekwu
A Liberian lawmaker has issued a passionate call for West African leaders to move beyond rhetoric and take concrete action to overhaul the region’s education system, warning that failure to equip young people with relevant skills will fuel unemployment and migration.
Samuel Reagen Enders, a member of the Liberian delegation and the Community Parliament’s Joint Committee on Health, made the appeal on the sidelines of a delocalized meeting in Lome, Togo.
“I hope we would not pay lip service to this,” Enders said, expressing concern that discussions on reform might not lead to real change. “We need to look at the data, look at the facts, and look at the importance of education in strengthening our Community.”
The five-day meeting brings together the Parliament’s joint committees on Education, Science and Culture, Health, and Telecommunications and Information Technology. The central theme, “Strengthening curriculum alignment with socio-economic needs of the ECOWAS region,” underscores a growing concern that West African education systems are not preparing students for existing job markets.
Enders, who previously served on an educational committee in Liberia, highlighted the region's demographic reality: a massive youth population that must be prepared for the future.
“We have a huge number of young people in this sub-region,” he stated. “We need to be mindful that our people need to be educated—and not just academically. We are talking about practical skills and opportunities that will allow them to be trained, support their families, and provide for themselves.”
A Skills Gap Fueling Migration
Enders painted a worrying picture of a region failing to harness its potential, pointing to a direct link between a skills mismatch and the increasing number of West Africans seeking opportunities abroad.
“A lot of our population is leaving the sub-region because there are no jobs. They are not equipped; they are not ready for the job market at hand,” he explained. “If we can align our education with our economy—knowing what is available, what jobs are needed, and what we need to transform our society—we can get our young people working.”
He argued that developing these skills is crucial for building human capacity, strengthening the job market, and fostering societal development. This self-sufficiency, he noted, would prevent a situation where countries like Nigeria have to rely on foreign experts for critical industries.
“It is very important if we want to keep our young people, strengthen and develop our society, and if we want to be independent and not depend on others for everything that is needed to bring our countries up,” Enders said.
A Call for Regional Collaboration and Needs Assessment
The lawmaker stressed that individual countries cannot solve this problem alone. He called for a coordinated, regional approach to understanding labor market needs.
“We cannot work in isolation. We should be able to coordinate,” he said. “We have to look at the job market, look at the needs in our various communities and member states. We should be able to do an assessment of what is available and what skills are needed.”
He gave a pointed example from his home country: “In Liberia, we know we heavily depend on mining. Do we have trained personnel for the equipment being used on the mines? When they break down, who is going to fix it?”
Enders recounted a conversation he had on his way to the meeting with a Nigerian gentleman working in gas production. “He said the problem is they do not have people who are ready [to work]. We need to assess and identify the jobs needed in our economy.”
He urged member states to see the region as an interconnected unit, where development in one nation benefits all.
“We can collaborate by looking at the sub-region as one unit. If you think Liberia is better without Ghana, then we are making a big mistake. If I think I cannot make it without Ghana, then we begin to collaborate,” he said. “If we notice that our development depends on one another, then we start working together. If we are going to have new discoveries and technology, we need to work together.”