President Mahama tells youth to embrace opportunities

By Justina Paaga
Cape Coast, May 6, GNA - President John Dramani Mahama has tasked the nation's youth to take advantage of the numerous job opportunities available to establish their own businesses and create more jobs to earn some income.

He said the massive development projects, coupled with the Youth Employment Support Programmes, created the avenue for the youth to be employed and also start their own businesses.

President Mahama said this during a lecture at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) on Thursday night under the topic: 'Raising Opportunities, Entrepreneurship and Changing Ghana'.

The lecture, which was attended by students from the UCC, Cape Coast Polytechnic, some senior high schools in the Cape Coast Metropolis, Members of Parliament and Ministers of Education, formed part of the President's tour of the Central Region dubbed: 'Accounting to the People".

He said the nation's economy was growing steadily and the inflation rates were also stabilising and commended Ghanaians for their sacrifices which had made it possible for the Government to reach this far in its development agenda.

For the first time in the history of Ghana, the Government was living within its limits and was paying its debts from its own coffers, he said, and attributed this to the bold decisions taken as well as sacrifices made by Ghanaians.

President Mahama said there had been massive growth in the road, power and energy sectors and that everything was being done to make Ghana a power hub in the sub-region.

He said his target was to see the completion of the gas processing plant, scaling the operations of VALCO, revamping of the Tema Shipping Yard, the bauxite mining industries and the irrigation of dams in the Upper East and Northern regions.

On education, President Mahama said Ghana's educational system was among the best in Africa, adding that it was as a result of the numerous interventions put in place by both past and present governments.

He said at the University of Cape Coast alone, the Government was funding 12 key projects of which six were for the School of Medical Sciences, and that financial support had also been given to the Department of Vocational and Technical Training.

President Mahama said the UCC would further be assisted to produce glass wares which would be distributed to school laboratories across the country.

He said the Department of Aquatic Science of UCC had also been provided with a fund of 984,894 cedis to enhance its capacity to provide training in fish farming adding that the School of Agriculture and Natural Sciences had been assisted to provide innovative training in salt mining and bee-keeping.

President Mahama said to enhance the human resource needs of the university he had directed the ministries of Education and Finance to fast track recruitment of teachers into tertiary institutions.

The Vice Chancellor of UCC, Professor Domwini Dabire Kuupole, lauded the Government for funding the numerous development projects on campus.

He appealed to the Government to, as a matter of urgency, work on the deplorable road on the campus as well as help address the security challenges the communities around the university faced.

Prof. Kuupole commended President Mahama for the visit and invited him to the university's congregation in August this year.

GNA