LINDEN youths were very upbeat after being told about the plethora of benefits that can be derived from our developing oil and gas industry and how they can pursue the career of their dreams and still be a beneficiary. Scores of youths turned up at the Egbert Benjamin Conference Centre in Linden on Friday, where an oil and gas forum was being held and had as its panellists, Director of the Department of Energy, Dr Mark Bynoe; Director of Youth Melissa Carmichael; Director of Sport Christopher Jones, Adviser to the Department of Energy, Matthew Wilks and TVET expert, Mr Floyd Scott, amongst others.

The youths main concern was how best they can channel their career paths to suit the oil and gas industry and were told while it is the belief that the industry will maximise on technical and engineering skills, there will also be the need for soft skills, accounting skills, marketing skills, agricultural skills, hospitality skills and the list goes on. Most of the youths attending were fourth and fifth formers and were told by Dr. Bynoe that the first step is to become informed from reliable sources, which is the Department of Energy. He said that one does not have to be directly employed by ExxonMobil and its main contractors, the Department of Energy or even the Ministry of Natural Resources to benefit, but can even become an entrepreneur and provide services to these top ranking agencies in the industry. “Remember that whatever you are pursuing, remember to be the best at it, the resources that will come from oil and gas will still facilitate whatever dreams and aspirations you may have,” he said.

While the youths present would likely have already gravitated to particular career streams, since they were fourth and fifth formers, Bynoe said that the aim is to choose a career path from the lower levels of school and this would enable one to be better grounded in their choice. In making such decisions, they should think about their strengths, weaknesses and how best their choice will benefit their country. For those who desire to pursue the technical and vocational field, Mr. Scott related that the Council for TVET will also support their dreams.

Bynoe urged them to keep seeking information, which the Department of Energy will readily make available and that they can choose topics relative to oil and gas for their School-Based Assessments (SBA) which will be a perfect opportunity to be integrally involved and informed. “So it is important that as you move forward, you are not just narrowing yourself to one specific source of information, and that is Facebook or Twitter,” he said.

Since the oil and gas industry is a new one, it needs capacity-building and, therefore, all efforts or attention should not be placed on skills needed to extract the oil, but all that will support what is to come from that extraction. The youths were told that from first oil, which is in 2020, Guyana is expected to rake it approximately US$300M, which will rapidly increase as production increases. This money will be used for the expansion of various

sectors and all of these sectors will require qualified persons. He told the youths that even if they remain in their home town, they can benefit from the industry as the entire country will be on a roll of development. “We need to start planning for what is to come, it cannot be done through wishful thinking; so even as young people, it is not too early to start asking what do I want Linden to look like and by extension, what would I want Guyana to look going forward…..remember when you benefit, the country should also benefit, when you excel, the country should also excel, when you are successful, the country should be able to succeed,” he urged the youths, adding that their future does not rest outside of Guyana, come 2020.

In giving the youths some motivation, Bynoe urged them to not let anyone kill their dreams, that their career is a journey and not a destination and that they should remember to work with a plan

The youths asked many questions, mostly relating to how they can benefit from training, funding through the Department of Youth and how the extraction of oil will affect the environment. They were told that the Department of Energy is mulling a mentoring programme and an internship programme. To benefit from this, they were urged to get involved in voluntarism.