THE devil, they say, finds work for idle hands. It is for this reason that much attention will have to be paid to the growing unemployment situation in the Tamale metropolis to prevent selfish individuals and groups from taking advantage of the vulnerability of the youth and using them to cause disturbances at the least provocation.
It is sometimes pathetic to see school leavers yearning to put what they had been taught into practice, moving from office to office, seeking for jobs.
It is equally disheartening that the illiterate majority cannot also find any work to engage themselves in because there are no factories and industries in the metropolis to employ their services.
The agricultural sector that used to provide ready jobs for the youth, particularly in the rural areas, has also collapsed. As a result, young men and women now troop to the metropolis to ‘‘try their luck’’ while those who can afford it, troop down to the southern part of the country to engage in menial jobs.
According to a marketing graduate of the Tamale Polytechnic, Mariama Iddrisu, ‘‘we ladies are even more vulnerable because most of the times even if you want an attachment, the manager or a senior staff of an organisation would want to sleep with you before engaging your services, or giving you the assurance that he would eventually employ you’’.
The unemployed youth who are mostly between the ages of 18 and 35 are usually spotted sitting under trees, playing cards, ludo or owari. Others engage in rumour mongering and gossiping.
Parental irresponsibility and ignorance have also contributed significantly to the prevailing situation as some parents continue to shirk their duties while others do not still see the need to enrol their wards in school.
According to a-34 year-old development worker, Mr Musah Suhuyini, ‘‘but for the existence of the many non-governmental organisations, some of whom are contributing significantly to the socio-economic development of the north, I wonder what the poverty situation would have been by now.’’
Some people have, indeed, blamed the prevailing high unemployment levels on the neglect of the north by successive governments because according to them, past administrations did not demonstrate much commitment to the creation of jobs in the area.
They contend that the availability of water which is one of the basic requirements for the establishment of industries is woefully inadequate in the metropolis.
For instance Coca-Cola Company, which expressed interest in establishing a plant in Tamale to cater for the entire northern sector and some neighbouring countries in the late 1990s had to relocate because part of their requirement for the provision of about 10 million gallons of water a day could not be guaranteed. The Ghana Water Company in Tamale currently rations a little over four million gallons of water for residents daily.
It is, therefore, the fervent hope of residents that the current Tamale Water Supply Rehabilitation and Expansion Project, when completed, would undoubtedly attract more investments into the growing metropolis.
The 45 million Euros project, which commenced this year, would upon its completion within two years, increase the water supply to 9.3 million gallons daily.
Some factories have closed down and the Nasia Rice Mills, which served as ready market to farmers and also employed the youth has almost collapsed due to lack of credit and the influx of imported rice into the system.
Other areas that are suffering the same fate are the cotton industries, oil and sheanut establishments.
Indeed, it is commendable that the government has introduced the Youth Employment Programme to enable young men and women earn a decent living. It cannot, however, engage the thousands of frustrated youth, who still roam the streets and move from office to office.
The National Volunteer Programme being run by the National Service Secretariat is another avenue that the youth have turned their attention to. But the question is what happens to them after the service?
There is, therefore, the urgent need to come out with a holistic and comprehensive National Youth Policy to address the problems of young men and women, who often do not know where to turn to for support.
Even though initiatives by the government, NGOs and some philanthropic groups and individuals to provide employment skills to the youth in the metropolis are commendable, much needs to be done to make such skills more beneficial to them and the society in general.
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