Ghanaians urged to help sustain NYEP

Accra, Oct. 03, GNA- Mr Leo Kaba Alowe, National Coordinator for the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) on Wednesday called on Ghanaians to support government's effort in sustaining the Programme to enable it generate more employment opportunities for the youth. He said sustainability of the programme also depended largely on how beneficiaries utilised the opportunity to upgrade their skills and created public confidence in it.

Speaking at a Press conference in Accra to mark the first anniversary of the implementation of the NYEP, Mr Alowe said although there had been public concern as to whether the Programme would be maintained, there was the need to look for other alternatives, such as donor support to fund its activities.

He said although the programme received political connotations at the initial stage of its implementation, the fact that 105,000 youth had been employed nationwide called for a renewed commitment and public perception to support the good work.

The National Coordinator said the programme had been successful in eight out of the ten modules introduced since October last year, adding that the secretariat hoped to introduce new modules such as Entrepreneurship, Information/Communication Technology, Mining, Construction, Trade and Vocation.

Mr Alowe said to further secure employment for beneficiaries under the internship module, the secretariat would ensure that those who were not employed permanently during the first year of their internship were offered another year after which they would have gotten the required expertise to work elsewhere.

He said there had also been concerns as to why government went ahead to implement the programme without any constitutional backing, saying: " Youth unemployment is an emergency and therefore timely intervention was needed to save the majority of the youth confronted with the situation".

The National Coordinator said the secretariat had so far received 150 billion cedis as at October, adding that the inadequate resource had constrained the introduction of other modules. He urged Ghanaians to honour their tax obligations to generate more resources since the programme was solely funded by government revenue.