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YEA board installed …urged to design programmes to spur job creation, sustainable growth

The reconstituted eight-member board of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) has been urged to design innovative programmes that will spur job creation and sustain growth in reducing youth unemployment.

Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour Awuah, who gave the task, said, recent statistics indicated that Ghana was on course to tackling youth unemployment, thus, the board’s role was critical in sustaining the gains chalked.

He was speaking in Accra Friday during the inauguration of the Board, chaired by Anita Kusi Boateng.

Other members include Justin Kodua Frimpong, CEO of YEA; Bright Wireko-Brobbey, Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations; Vincent Ekow Assafuah, who is the minister’s nominee and Chief Labour Officer, Eugene Narh Korletey.

The rest are Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah, Deputy Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Decentralisation, Pius Hadzide, National Youth Authority Coordinator, Lawrencia Ahema Adams and Dr Eric Yeboah, both nominees of the private sector.

Mr Awuah said, currently the country was recording 4.5 per cent unemployment rate while youth unemployment stood at 12 per cent.

The situation, he explained, was worrisome as a large number of the workforce were out of work or engaged in an undesired profession.

He challenged the Board to review the law of the Agency and make proposals for amendment, if necessary, in responding to the needs of the youth.

The minister further asked the Board to consider modifications to programmes to create more job opportunities for the country’s workforce.

Already, the ministry, he said, was undertaking the Work Abroad Project, Artisanal Directorate Project (artisans certified, registered and organised), Job Centre, Regional programmes and other initiatives as part of efforts toward reducing the unemployment rate.

On behalf of the chairperson and other members, Dr Yeboah, expressed gratitude to the President for the appointment and assured that they would work as a team to improve the state of employment in the country.

Describing their role as “significant and sensitive”, he said, Ghana’s youthful could lead the country to prosperity if they were empowered and deployed creatively.

He reiterated the commitment of the Board to ensure that the government’s target of reducing unemployment was achieved within the next 3 years.

BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS

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