British Council challenges youth

Accra, March 24, GNA - The British Council on Tuesday launched a media campaign to urge the youth to come up with ideas to help the nation to achieve its Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Speaking at the launch, a representative of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Mr Abdullai Yakubu, said government was committed to help the youth to take part in developing the nation. He said the Ministry of Youth and Sports had outlined programmes and activities which had been on the drawing table for many years to ensure the realization of its aim of empowering the youth. Mr Yakubu said the draft youth policy document which is already in place would be subjected to further examination and subsequently enacted for implementation.

He said the National Youth Council Law (NYCL) was out of tune and needed to be re-examined and injected with the necessary dynamism and drive to promote activities in the youth sector. Mr Yakubu said the Ministry would strengthen youth leadership training institutes to offer skills and entrepreneurial training to enable the youth to become competitive in the labour market. He said when potential energies of the youth were properly enhanced, the MDGs could be achieved. Mr Moses Anibaba, Director of British Council, said Ghana needed to support and encourage young people to take up the leadership of turning the debate and knowledge into tangible and sustainable action at their levels within communities.

The campaign called Debate to Action is a partnership between the World Bank and the British Council which is to urge the youth to create ideas to help the nation achieve its MDGs. The programme will run on Adom Fm for two weeks and the winner would win 1,000 pounds.