Over the years, the western world has been witnessing influx of illegal immigrants in their countries.  Some of these immigrants become successful in their strive to enter the West, while others are repatriated or sent to jail. 

This illegal migration has both positive and negative impacts on individuals, societies and the world at large.  Considering the fact that youths are the most involved, both male and female for that matter, there are various factors underlying this illegal migration, including poverty, hunger, political instability, unemployment, corruption, etc.

 Youths are the backbone of any country, thus making them the future leaders of their countries.
Some of the positive impacts may include successful investments in projects like infrastructural developments, foreign exchanges, education, health, etc.
Some of the negative impacts may include braindrain, the increased of illegal residents in the West, among others.

While some youths go crazy, just for the intention of going to the West, others become  drug addicts .
This illegal migration is really affecting the development of the country as far as the youths are concerned.

Recent reports indicate that over thousand youths were caught smuggling their way to  Spain, while many others die, due to hunger and related problems.
 Some of them are already  repatriated back to their countries after spending lots of money to enter Spain illegally.  These monies can be  used to eradicate poverty in their countries.

However, this problem will continue as far as poverty, hunger and political instability, corruption, unemployment of youths continue to exist in the  continent.
The West is putting up mechanisms to stop this illegal issues, but to no avail.  The youthful population should be empowered with skills, in order to take up sustainable and self-reliant initiatives that can be of meaningful development to individuals and the entire populace.  The authorities should establish more skills centres in the country, in order to explore their potentialities.

Every youth is expected to become responsible and be a role model, thus skills training will be of vital role in this endeavour. 

The youth organisations should   make them responsible and development-oriented.  They should come up with plans that will help them to become self-reliant.

 The spirit of patriotism and belonging should be inculcated into the youths at all levels. 
The youths are the cream of every society, and as a result they should be empowered and protected.  We should start to implement our dreams.  Examples are always better than precepts.

Alieu Sowe
Secretary of kafuta
sports committee