By Assan Bah
President Adama Barrow has highlighted skills training, sports infrastructure and access to clean water as key areas of development during a series of visits to projects in Banjul.
The President visited the Crab Island Technical and Vocational Education and Training Centre on Monday, 19 October 2026, as part of his nationwide Meet the People Tour. He later inspected renovation work at the KG5 Mini-Stadium, visited a newly built fish-smoking facility for women and inaugurated the Banjul Albion Water Storage Tank.
At the Crab Island Technical and Vocational Education and Training Centre, Mr Barrow stressed the importance of equipping young people with practical skills to improve their employment prospects and contribute to national development.
“Today we started with the Crab Island Technical Institution where young people have been trained to be qualified in skills,” he told reporters.
The centre trains students in carpentry, welding, sewing and other practical skills.
“If you want to empower young people, you train them to be skilful. If you are skilful, you are empowered,” the President said.
He said the government wanted to address the shortage of skilled workers in the country, warning that the gap was allowing others to fill positions that Gambians could take up with the right training.
“Part of our national development plan is to make sure that we fill the skills gap,” he said.
“There is a lot of skills gap in this country. That’s why others are occupying the space.
“To reduce that or to overcome that, we have to train our people as far as skills is concerned.”
Mr Barrow then proceeded to the KG5 Mini-Stadium, where he inspected ongoing renovation work aimed at restoring the facility for use by residents and football teams.
“This is the only standard football field in Banjul. And it deteriorated and Banjulians were not able to use the field,” he said.
The President said the project followed an appeal made to him during his 2024 Meet the People Tour. Although the renovation was not included in the government’s budget at the time, he said he helped mobilise private resources to support the work.
“I intervened. During the 2024 Meet the People tour, they appealed to me for support. It was not in our budget, but I was innovative enough to mobilise resources,” he said.
He added that a committee chaired by the Vice President was established to mobilise funds for the renovation and improve the pitch.
The aim, he said, was to restore the stadium so that residents could play football there and league matches could also be held at the venue.
“To provide them with a good pitch so that Banjulians can play football. Not Banjulians alone, but even league matches can be played there. And that field is a traditional field. Most players here, Biri Biri and others, they have all played in that field,” Mr Barrow said.
He said the deterioration of the stadium had deprived the capital of an important sporting facility.
“So obviously seeing it deteriorate and not being used, obviously I think that was not good for our capital. That’s why we raised funds. This is private resources,” he said.
The President also called on businesses operating in Banjul to support the communities in which they work through their corporate social responsibility programmes.
“But as far as they are doing business in Banjul, I think they need to give back to the community part of their social corporate responsibilities. We challenged them and they came forward to mobilise resources,” he said.
Mr Barrow also spoke about a newly built smokehouse intended to provide women fish-smokers with a safer and more suitable place to process their products.
He said the women had previously worked in poor conditions and were exposed to an unhealthy environment.
“The environment was very bad. And that was part of the appeal also. The resources were mobilised the same way [innovative financing] through private resources,” he said.
The President said the initiative was designed to improve conditions for the women, both in terms of their working environment and their health, while helping them process fish for sale.
He described the women as “very hard-working and very vulnerable”, adding that they were among the groups the government wanted to support.
“So that they can be well accommodated and also process their fish and put into the market,” he said.
“Young people and women are very important to us. That’s why we took it as a very important project. But now we are almost 90-something percent delivering the project,” he added.
The President concluded his visits in Banjul with the inauguration of the Banjul Albion Water Storage Tank, a water infrastructure project funded by the World Bank Group through the Gambia Electricity Restoration and Modernisation Project (GERMP) and implemented by the National Water and Electricity Company (NAWEC).
The project is intended to improve water supply for residents, with the tank able to serve more than 15,000 people, according to the President.
Mr Barrow said the project addressed water shortages that had affected communities in the capital and acknowledged the support of development partners in making the project possible.
“You know, I’m part of this Banjul. Water shortage, actual water shortage. Some of them were here and they were overtaken. And partners came to our aid and supported us so that we built this tank. It can accommodate, it can supply water to over 15,000 people. So we are very happy,” he said.
He said the government viewed its responsibility to the public as a social contract and pledged to continue pursuing development projects for Gambians, particularly residents of the capital.
“As far as our government is concerned, the sky is the limit. Our office is a social office. It’s a social contract. That is the contract we are trying to deliver to the Gambian people, especially the people from the capital,” Mr Barrow said.
He added that his delegation was pleased with what it had seen during the visits.