Vetting: I’ll make home very attractive to curb rural-urban migration — Northern Regional Minister-designate

Ali Adolf John, the Northern Regional Minister-designate, has pledged to make the region more attractive to curb rural-urban migration, particularly among the area’s youth.

He noted that many young boys and girls leave the region for Accra and other cities in search of greener pastures, often buying sewing machines for dressmaking, only to end up doing other types of work.

To address this issue, Ali Adolf, speaking before Parliament’s Appointment Committee on Thursday, January 23, promised to introduce apprenticeship programs aimed at empowering the youth and attracting those already in Accra working as Kayeyei to return to the region.

“As an incoming regional minister, I’ve already started thinking about our brothers and sisters who come to Accra to do all sorts of menial jobs. The best I can do is, first of all, make home an attractive place so that we don’t see more girls and boys migrating from Tamale and, for that matter, the northern region to any part of the South, not just Accra,” he said.

“We will initiate apprenticeship training programs. Those interested in becoming hairdressers, seamstresses, or even those who want to go into petty trading will be supported through various packages to help them start these ventures. For all you know, some of them are already there,” the Minister-designate added.

“They come all the way from the North to Accra, just to buy a sewing machine or a dryer. And before they know it, they’re doing something completely different,” he stressed.