Published: July 20, 2026
GBARNGA, Bong County – Deputy Minister of State for Administration Bill McGill-Jones told Bong County University’s graduating Class of 2026 to stop looking to the government for employment and start creating jobs themselves, delivering a blunt assessment of Liberia’s labor market at the university’s President’s Tea Party.
“Government cannot employ every graduate. No government on earth can,” McGill-Jones said Wednesday evening, July 15, in a packed BCU Assembly Hall, urging graduates to establish businesses in agriculture, transportation, tailoring, technology, education, healthcare and media instead.
“The graduate who creates five jobs in Gbarnga has done more for Liberia than a hundred people waiting in line for one government position,” he said.
Speaking under the theme “Make Yourself and Liberia Proud” at one of the university’s signature commencement activities, the Deputy Minister at the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs was equally direct about the barriers facing the class.
“I know jobs are hard to find. I know some of you have no powerful relative to call, no connection in Monrovia, no godfather in government or the private sector,” he said. “But where you are right now does not have to determine where you end up.”
He advised graduates awaiting employment to keep developing their skills through volunteering, internships, community service and continuous learning.
McGill-Jones opened his address by recognizing the sacrifices of parents, guardians and sponsors, many of whom he said endured years of hardship to see the graduates through.
“Your degree carries their fingerprints too,” he told the class, prompting graduates to stand and applaud their families.
He invoked what he called “the people of 4:30 in the morning,” the market women, farmers and parents who rise before dawn to provide for their children, and acknowledged students who studied by candlelight during power outages, walked long distances to class, buried loved ones during their studies or raised children while pursuing their degrees.
“Every one of you has a 4:30-in-the-morning story,” he said. “But look at you today, you carried it, and you reached this far. Make yourself proud. Make Bong County proud. Make Liberia proud.”
On effort, he was unsparing. “Nobody can drop out of effort and drop into success,” he declared. “You must train for it, work for it, and learn for it every single day. Your graduation is not the end of your education; it is your license to keep learning.”
He held up Bong County’s own recovery from civil conflict as proof of what determination yields. “If a whole county can rewrite its story, so can you,” he said, before paying tribute to the county’s legendary leader, Madam Suakoko.
“She had no privilege. She had no connections. She had character, courage, and conviction,” he said. “The blood of Suakoko runs through this county. Do not tell me what you cannot do.”
McGill-Jones traced his own path through the Civil Service Agency, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, and the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning before working in financial wellness and entrepreneurship in the United States, a comfortable life he said he left when President Joseph Nyuma Boakai’s administration called him home.
“When my country called, I answered,” he said. “God does not waste preparation. Opportunity may delay, but it does not ignore the prepared.”
Referencing the Boakai administration’s ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development, he argued that no government policy can succeed without committed citizens.
“No agenda, however well designed, and no budget, however well managed, can succeed without trained people, committed people, honest people,” he said. “I mean you.”
He prepared the class for setbacks. “You will apply and be rejected. You will start and stumble. You will trust and be disappointed,” he said. “Failure is not your enemy. Failure is your teacher.”
Pointing to Liberia’s survival through civil war, the Ebola epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic, he told the audience: “As a Liberian, resilience is not something you need to import—it is your birthright.”
“Your name will travel farther than your certificate,” he said. “A good name is better than riches. Twenty years from now, one of you will stand at this same podium before another graduating class and tell your story. Live in such a way that your story will be worth telling.”
The President’s Tea Party forms part of activities leading to Bong County University’s fifth commencement exercises, bringing together university leadership, government officials, traditional leaders, clergy, faculty, students and families.
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