The Chief Executive Officer of the National Youth Authority (NYA), Pius Enam Hadzideh, has appealed to all Ghanaians especially the youth to support in the implementation of the YouStart Initiative in order to guarantee its success.
He said the initiative was not only a flagship programme, but one of the key measures by the government to deal with the growing youth unemployment in the country and all Ghanaians must take interest in its implementation.
“The successful implementation of the YouStart will yield many benefits for both the Ghanaian economy and the citizenry as a whole. However, the success or otherwise of the Initiative will depend on all Ghanaians, especially the youth. I, therefore, urge all of us to support the implementation of the YouStart Initiative,” he said.
Mr Hadzideh made the call at a stakeholder engagement with leadership of various youth groups on the implementation of the Initiative in Accra yesterday.
The engagement which was organised by the YouStart Secretariat in collaboration with the NYA and the National Entrepreneur Innovation Programme (NEIP) was to sensitise them on the YouStart programme and its benefits as well as encourage them to get their members to sign-up for the initiative.
Mr Hadzideh said the Youstart programme presented an opportunity for the youth to take their destiny into their own hands and contribute to the development of the country.
He said the NYA had the mandate to ensure the holistic development of the youth and was poised to ensure that the right policies ware put in place for the benefit of the country.
“We care not only about entrepreneurs, we also care about, youth education, skills among others and ensuring the implementation of the national youth policy.
The NYA is not the Ministry of Finance, but mandated to mobilise the youth towards the transformation of the economy of the country,” he emphasised.
Mr Hadzideh said Ghana was a haven for business development and the way forward was for the youth to stay in and help build rather than embark on the perilous journey to seek non-available greener pasture elsewhere.
On his part, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Entrepreneur and Innovation Programme (NEIP), Kofi Ofosu Nkansah said the unemployment in the country stood at about 12.2per cent.
This, according to him was the reason for which the government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had introduced the YouStart Programme.
“The initiative is to move the youth from the regular searching for non-exiting jobs to becoming employers themselves and employ their colleagues,” he added.
He said the large population of youth was a huge potential that could be harnessed for the development of the country, stressing that “Government sees the youth as an asset for our national development and that potential will be harnessed for that.”
The Acting Coordinator at the YouStart Secretariat under the Ministry of Finance, Mr Andy Ameckson said the one million jobs government was seeking to create could employ about 85 per cent of the youth population.
BY CLIFF EKUFUL
