Liberia

 Liberia President, George Weah has been called upon to declare a national emergency on the trafficking and use of hard drugs.

This call was made recently by the Executive Director of a Non-Governmental Organization(NGO), Hope for Young People Inc, Ambassador Thomas Tamba Bundoo Ambassador Bundoo made the call during the launch of the report of a survey conducted by the NGO on drug addiction in Liberia, as part of activities in marking the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Transfer Money with Wise

“As the Executive Director, I cannot keep sitting and seeing my fellow young compatriots dying the way they are dying and my country losing manpower to drug addiction. In view of the above, I am kindly calling on the President of the Republic of Liberia, H.E Dr. George Manneh Weah to declare Drug Addiction as a National Emergency to help mitigate the proliferation of illicit drugs in Liberia and save the younger generation from losing their potential.”

“It is very saddening and frustrating to see the bodies of young people lying in the streets every time in the name of criminals, even though at times there is no substantial evidence to substantiate those allegations in the court of competent jurisdiction, while other young people are losing their potentials to a drug, getting wayward and many others liabilities on society,”

“Drug Abuse is gradually taking over the youthful population of Liberia, in every community and street corner there are ghettos and in every ghetto, there is a youth who is claiming to be Five Star or CEO.''

“Mothers are having restless time running from one prayer band to another to find solutions to their children’s drug addiction problem. It seems like those who are in authority do not care and are concerned about finding a solution to this silent enemy called drugs. If nothing is done to mitigate the proliferation in the use of illicit drugs in the country, I foresee a Liberia that will be very ungovernable in the not too distant future because of the insecurity that an illicit drug poses on the state and its people,'' Ambassador Bundoo stated.

The Liberian Government is set to protect intellectual property owners from the activities of pirates.
This intention was made in a Press Release issued by the Copyright Society of Liberia (COSOL).
“Pirate copies of artistic workers threaten artists and authors’ livelihoods by robbing them of their due percentage of profits and royalties. By working in partnership with the National Collective Societies of Liberia, the government is driving anti-piracy efforts through intelligence gatherings, and educations to combat the illegal trade of piracy from further flourishing, while protecting the creative industries, the Release stated.

Liberia's first female Maritime Educator, Mrs. Miatta Sonie Sherif has advised the Government to invest in training  young Liberians rather than engaging the services of expartriates in the maritime industry.

 "It is now hard times that policymakers see the need to invest in building the capacity of Liberians especially the young ones to take charge of Liberia’s maritime resources given the fact that the few professionals in the sector are aging. Giving our Maritime sector to foreigners to manage is a risk we don't want to toy with," Mrs. Sherif emphasized.

She obtained a Master’s of Science degree in Maritime Education and Training in 2019 from the World Maritime University in Sweden to become the first Liberian woman to achieve such feat. 

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) in Liberia, Authorities of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and  the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS) have organized a two day Price monitoring training programme for technicians.

The training which was held at Gbarnga, Bong County for 30 technicians was aimed  at enhancing price monitoring mainly for basic food commodities in Liberia.

The training was also aimed at  capturing and facilitating experience-sharing and equipping MoA, and LISGIS field-level staff engaged in collection, analysis and reporting of market data to better communicate,  while also ensuring that there is an improvement in the contents of the monthly market monitoring bulletins, and strengthen partnerships and networks.

WFP Liberia's Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping Officer, Mr. Emmanuel Anderson commended  the Liberian government for its enduring partnership with the WFP on price monitoring activities.

''WFP has a global mandate to support some of the most vulnerable members of society, with different social protection interventions," Mr. Anderson stated. 

He also said that  Liberia was increasingly vulnerable to high food price shocks as has been witnessed since 2008, whilke stressing that  the government has been concerned about the rise in food prices, and as such, it has been undertaking regular joint government-WFP market monitoring exercises for which an MoU was signed between the Liberian government (MoA, LISGIS) and WFP.

The Government of Liberia has approved the commencement of free tuition in public unversities in the country.

The approval was  given recently by Liberia's President, Mr. George Weah, the auditorium of the University of Liberia's Capitol Hill campus  in Monrovia.