Monrovia, Liberia – The Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) has announced internship possibilities for Liberian students, according to August Kpehe Ngafuan, the country’s finance minister.
Speaking on Saturday, March 15, 2025, at the 216th commemoration of former President, Joseph Jenkins Roberts’ birth anniversary in Monrovia, Minister Ngafuan clarified that MFDP will relaunch its internship program to provide some young people, including JJ Roberts scholars, with the hands-on experience they require to facilitate their transition from the classroom to the workplace.
The Minister claims that during his tenure as Minister of Finance in 2011, the Ministry established a collaboration with the JJ Roberts Scholarship Students Association and offered internships to eleven (11) JJ Roberts scholars who were suggested by the JJ Roberts Foundation and the JJ Roberts Scholarship Association.
The Minister, who spoke on the topic “Forging greater partnerships for the development and enhancement of quality education for Liberian children,” said that the 2011 partnership with the JJRSSA and the JJ Roberts Foundation had produced benefits and that its transformative effect had given him more motivation to return to the internship program.
When the internship program is piloted, he added, it will eventually grow into a larger government internship/vacation job program that will become a permanent part of the national budget starting in 2026. The announcement of Minister Ngafuan came shortly after President Joseph N. Boakai mandated all government officials to provide jobs for the youthful population in the country.
“As Minister of Finance, I am optimistic about our nation’s future because, despite the current difficulties, President Boakai’s administration is making every effort to meet our overarching development objective, which is to turn our beloved country from its current status into a lower middle-income nation within the next five years,” he continued.
The finance minister of Liberia acknowledged that while the internship program may have bumpy roads and overcast skies at times, MFDP will undoubtedly accomplish its development objectives, just as skilled pilots can safely navigate a plane through turbulence.
He asserted that everyone in the public sector, from the highest ranking official to the lowest-ranking employee, must work together to accomplish these goals within the next five years. According to the Minister, educating more people is the most reliable approach to lift people out of poverty and their heavy reliance on the kindness of others.
“The Chinese philosopher, Confucius, was right when he said, “If your plan is for one year, plant rice; if your plan is for ten years, plant trees; if your plan is for one hundred years, educate children,” the Minister added.
He further, “In short, what Confucius is saying is that the dividends a country reaps will be long lasting if it puts more emphasis on the education of its children, or to put it more broadly, on the development of its human capital.”
Speaking on the impact of the former President JJ Robets, Minister Ngafuan narrated that he was not a perfect person; saying, as a mortal man, he too had his failings.
“In spite of his failings, he did well for Liberia. His vision did not end at the tip of nose or with his generation,” he explained.
The Liberia’s Finance Minister indicated that ex-President JJ Roberts’s saw centuries ahead and understood as John F. Kennedy did that “if a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.” So, my fellow compatriots of this generation, let us strive to do right by our nation.”
