By Gloria Ikibah
A member of the ECOWAS Parliament from Liberia has called on West African leaders to move beyond discussions and implement practical reforms in the region’s education sector, warning that failure to equip young people with relevant skills could deepen unemployment and drive more migration.
Samuel Reagen Enders made the call on the sidelines of a parliamentary meeting in Lome, Togo, where lawmakers from across the sub-region gathered for deliberations on education and development. 
The meeting, which brought together the Joint Committees on Education, Science and Culture, Health, and Telecommunications and Information Technology, focused on aligning educational curricula with the socio-economic realities of the region.
Enders cautioned that without genuine commitment from governments, discussions about reform could remain mere rhetoric.
“I hope we would not pay lip service to this,” Enders said, stressing the need for leaders to base decisions on clear evidence.
“We need to look at the data, look at the facts, and look at the importance of education in strengthening our Community.”
The Liberian lawmaker, who previously served on an education committee in his country, pointed to the region’s rapidly growing youth population as a major reason for urgent reforms.
“We have a huge number of young people in this sub-region. “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,” he said.
He warned that the gap between what students are taught and what employers require is already pushing many young people to seek opportunities outside the region.
“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,” Enders 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 noted.
Enders stressed that developing practical skills would help strengthen local industries, build human capacity and reduce dependence on foreign expertise.
“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,” he said.
He also emphasised that education reform cannot be tackled by individual countries acting alone, urging West African governments to adopt a coordinated regional strategy.
“We cannot work in isolation. We should be able to coordinate.
“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,” Enders said.
Using the example of Liberia’s mining sector, he questioned whether local manpower is being adequately prepared for specialised roles in key industries.
“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?” he questioned.
He also recalled a recent conversation with a Nigerian professional working in the gas industry who raised similar concerns about the shortage of skilled workers.
“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.
“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. 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,” Enders said.
