GOVT TO RESOURCE NYEP TO IMPLEMENT PROGRAMMES (PAGE 22, AUGUST 7, 2010)

THE government is prepared to resource the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) to implement its laudable programmes, especially in northern Ghana to help forestall the mass exodus of the youth from the area to southern Ghana in search of menial jobs.
The Deputy Northern Regional Minister, Mr Sam Nasaamu Asabigi, said this in a speech read on his behalf at the close of a six-month skill and manpower training workshop for graduates of the Ghana Young Artisans Movement and the NYEP in Tamale.
The 85 trainees were trained in various fields, including hair-dressing, dress- making, catering, batik, tie-dye production.
Mr Asabigi described as unfortunate the current situation in northern Ghana where a large number of energetic youth were idling about as a result of unavailability of employment.
He gave the assurance that the government had mapped out a number of programmes, including the revamping of the agricultural sector to absorb the youth.
The National Co-ordinator of the NYEP, Mr Abuga Pele, said the exercise formed part of the “trade and vocation model” of the NYEP that was aimed at exploring the potentials of the youth through self-employment.
He said that would lessen the burden on government’s financial stride to provide lucrative jobs for the youth of Ghana.
Mr Abuga Pele hinted that plans were afoot to replicate the vocation and trade model throughout the country that would also benefit the disabled.
The Executive Director of the Ghana Young Artisans Movement, Mr Abdul Fatawu Ibrahim, commended the government for its unrelenting efforts to develop the youth of Ghana through such interventions.
He also expressed appreciation to donor agencies, including “Tools for self reliance” in the United Kingdom, Simavi in the Netherlands, the Embassies and High Commissions of Britain and Canada in Ghana for their support over the years.
Mr Fatawu revealed that GYAM had since its establishment in 1995 been involved in youth and community development through which water and sanitation facilities had been provided to peri-urban communities in the three regions of the north.
The graduates received certificates and some working tools to help them establish their own businesses.