Gov’t to re-brand labour offices into employment centres - Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama on Tuesday announced that government would soon re-brand offices of the Labour Department to become national employment centres.

He said the re-branding of the offices would help the youth to position themselves appropriately for permanent employment and become less reliant on white-collar jobs.

President Mahama said this when he joined the National Youth Authority to celebrate the International Youth Day in Accra on the theme: Investing in Young People: The Key to Ghana's Transformation and Economic Development."

The day, which is set aside for the deliberation on issues concerning the youth, also provides governments and international community the opportunity to initiate moves that would enhance the development of the youth in various locations.

President Mahama said in furtherance of the determination of government to make Ghanaian youth self-reliant, government would launch a GH¢10 million Youth Enterprise Support fund to boost their entrepreneurial training.

He said under the programme, enterprising youth would be supported with funding, training and mentorship to establish their own enterprises that would make them employers in future.

The move, he said, would also ensure long term creation of wealth and prosperity which would reduce crime and heavy dependence by the youth after completing their tertiary education.

President Mahama said access to the fund would be based on merit irrespective of beneficiaries' religion, gender, political affiliation or geographical location.

He said apart from that initiative, government would also ensure that all government agencies implemented the relevant youth programmes that would be beneficial to the next generation.

President Mahama also directed the Ministry of Youth and Sports to rehabilitate all the existing Youth Leadership Training Institutes throughout the country to provide technical and vocational skills to students to become self-employed after completion.

The President pledged his administration's determination to lead Ghana to achieve all her development goals and urged all Ghanaians to play their roles responsibly to ensure such developments.

Mr Ras Mubarak, National Coordinator of the National Youth Authority, appealed to government to initiate moves that would encourage banks and other financial institutions to grant loans for the training of the youth in entrepreneurial skills.

He explained that numerous risks had, over the years, been associated with granting of loans for the training of the youth as the banks had been elusive in granting such facilities for their training and welfare.

Mr Mubarak expressed dissatisfaction at the rate of criminal activities among the youth and gave the assurance that the acquisition of skills could help reduce the menace and encourage them to engage in jobs that could employ many more youth in the coming years.

He appealed to the Executive and Legislative arms of Government to build a consensus on the Youth Policy to serve as a working document for generations to come.

Mr Mubarak pledged to draw synergies between the public and private agencies to find lasting solutions to the numerous challenges that the Ghanaian youth were facing.

There were also solidarity messages from the United Nations System and Youth Groups among other partners.