George Opare Addo, Minister for Youth Development and Empowerment, has praised President John Dramani Mahama for keeping all of his pledges to Ghana’s youth, characterizing his leadership as “commitment, action, and results.”
In an interview on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem morning show, Opare Addo described a number of youth-oriented programs that, in his opinion, demonstrate the President’s commitment to empowering youth via education, job creation, and skill development.
He claims that during his first year in office, President Mahama has donated GH¢400 million to the Adwumawura Initiative and the National Apprenticeship Programme, both of which are intended to provide thousands of young Ghanaians with employable skills.
“This is real commitment, not ‘audio money.’ This is money that has actually been released, and training is already ongoing,” he stated.
He also revealed that in order to support the government’s larger youth development objective, the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) has started new training initiatives.
President Mahama has demonstrated great support for Ghana’s digital economy beyond vocational and apprenticeship programs, according to Opare Addo, who cited the GH¢1 million Coders Programme as an example of a concrete investment in the nation’s future labor force.
“In total, President Mahama has already committed close to half a billion cedis to youth programmes. And this is only his first year. I believe he will do even more in his second,” he noted.
On education, the minister commended President Mahama for introducing policies that ease the financial burden on tertiary students.
“He introduced the free fees policy to reduce the stress associated with paying for higher education. In the first year, government supports the students directly, and from the second year, they can access the Student Loan Trust Fund to continue their studies and repay after graduation,” he explained.
Source:Mybrytfmonline.com/Joseph Asare
