Invest in existing youth policies – Director

Mr Frank Ofosu-Asante, Regional Director of the National Population Council has called on Ministries, Department and Agencies to invest in existing policies on the youth to curb the rate of unemployment.

He has also advocated the development of indicators to track how well such existing policies were meeting the needs of the numerous young people in the country.

Mr Ofosu-Asante at a youth dialogue with stakeholders mentioned that if the state could make a commitment in addressing the various pressing needs of the youth, then the Millennium Development Goals three, four, five and six could also be achieved.

The MDG three talks about gender equality, four on reducing child mortality, five on maternal health and six on combating HIV/AIDS.

The theme:”Africa’s Youth Population: Opportunity or Threat, Ghana in Perspective” was chosen to highlight critical issues affecting Ghana’s over seven million young people in the areas of employment, skills and knowledge acquisition.

Mr Ofosu-Asante said young people had taken to various negative activities due to unemployment which had in a way contributed to unsafe abortions, acquisition of sexually transmitted disease and other social issues which were under-writing the gains on the MDGs.

He said the youth should be better resourced to take up leadership positions in future, adding, “Ignore the young people today and face the dire consequences tomorrow”.

Mr Alfred Gyan, Deputy Western Regional Minister said the youth were potent force without which society was lifeless, adding that,  it was the nation’s asset which must be empowered.

He said government was dedicated to providing the youth with opportunities for employment and labour market information as well as creating opportunities for young people to take advantage.

Source: GNA