JOYNEWS' Rafiq Salam awarded by National Youth Authority

Rafiq Salam

Joy News' Upper West Regional correspondent, Rafiq Salam was among a list of five personalities that were given special awards at the third Upper West Region's Youth Achievers Award organized by the National Youth Authority (NYA), in conjunction with Youth Right Foundation of Africa (YRFA) in Wa.

The rest are Mr. Alban S.K. Bagbin, minister for health and Member of Parliament for Nadowli West, Dr. Edward Nminnyuor Gyader, Dean of University for Development Studies (UDS) School of Medical Health Sciences (SMHS) and Ambassador Amin Amidu Sulemani, Upper West Regional Minister.

The Upper West Regional Director of the National Youth Authority, Mr. Sulemana Abdul Moomin stated that the award ceremony was supposed to be held on the last day of the year but has to be brought back to coincide with the African Youth Day.

Mr. Sulemana told the large gathering of youth from the region that the award ceremony was not introduced for cosmetic purposes but rathe, an occasion to solving critical problems of young people.

He said they have realized that many young people in the region are not able to pay school fees and are always on the neck of politicians to do so for them and as a result, a youth endowment fund was launched last year to take care of the needs of these aforementioned people.

He said despite promises made by several people to contribute to fund a lot of them have not fulfilled their promise and he appealed to them redeem their pledge in order for them to help brilliant but needy people in the region.

The minster for Health Mr. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin who spoke on behalf of the awardees thanked the National Youth Authority and Youth Right Foundation of Africa for the recognition given to them for their contribution towards the development of the region remarking that, ''a nation that fails to honor its heroes is not worth dying for''.

''We are committed and passionate to dying for mother Ghana. We want to see you tomorrow far better than we are today.

Take full advantage of the opportunities that exist for you today and don't mess your life,'' Mr.

Story by Ghana/Myjoyonline.com