In President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government’s quest to create and faciliate employment opportunities for Ghanaian youth, the Vice President Of Ghana, Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia has launched Youth Employment Agency (YEA) Job Centre initiative.
The introduction of the Job Centre initiative was slated for 2nd of October 2019 at the Bank of Ghana (BoG) Auditorium, University of Ghana, Legon, 9am. The unveiling of the 4 new initiatives piloted by the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) is aimed at creating and facilitating sustainable employments for the youth of Ghana, between the ages of 15 and 35.
These initiatives – the YEA Job Centre, Artisan Directory, Regional Flagship Project, and the Work Abroad Programme are designed to create opportunities for matching job seekers to job opportunities both inside and outside the country’s shores.
The Job Centre seeks to functionally align a wide range of publicly- and privately listed employment, training and educational opportunities and also provide high-quality customer service to job seekers and potential employers.
The Artisan Directory, on the other hand, has the objective of providing and securing trained artisans with the ready market to sell their craft and services. It will connect artisans to the market place of skills and services, where they ply their trade.
The Regional Flagship Project seeks to create sustainable livelihoods for the youth by leveraging on the comparative uniqueness of our regions and districts. Central to the Regional Flagship Project is the reliance on agriculture to create jobs for the youth. The project intends to directly engage at least 10,000 youth within the first year of implementation.
The Work Abroad Programme is focused on finding decent employment opportunities for young Ghanaians outside the shores of the country. The YEA, in partnership with key stakeholders will aggressively explore opportunities across the globe and connect Ghanaians to these opportunities with the view of positioning them to contribute meaningfully to the socioeconomic development of the country.
Meanwhile, speaking at the launch ceremony, the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, rejected claims by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) that the Akufo-Addo government is, contrary to its promise while in opposition, increasing electricity tariffs rather than reducing them.
The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) announced a 5.6 per cent increase in electricity tariffs on Monday 30th September, 2019, leading to claims by the opposition that Government had mismanaged the electricity sector, hence the “unprecedented” increase.
However, the Vice President maintained that the Nana Akufo-Addo government had kept faith with Ghanaians and had for the first time in Ghana’s history, cumulatively reduced tariffs since assuming office on January 7, 2017.
Mr Bawumia also emphasised that Government has undertaken a number of far-reaching reforms and also either reduced or abolished a large number of taxes to further ease the cost and hassle of doing business. Some of these measures include automation of the construction permit system, automatic of the application for business operating permit, various reforms at the Registrar General’s department, paperless port systems, etc.
