Ken Ofori Atta – Finance Minister Ghana
•Ken Ofori-Atta has advised the youth to take advantage of the agribusiness opportunities
•He spoke at a youth forum organized in Sunyani
•He also challenged the youth to have faith in Ghana
The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has urged the youth to take advantage of the agribusiness opportunities and manufacturing in the country.
This, he believes is a big opportunity for the young generation to make a living for themselves and their peers.
Speaking at a youth forum organised in Sunyani, the finance minister said “let us begin to understand that it is possible for us to be employers. This is a primary environment, and we have to challenge ourselves and use our skills to create jobs for ourselves and others since the government cannot continue to employ people into the public sector”.
He further challenged the forum not to give up on Ghana since there are various programmes put in place by government for the youth to prosper.
“I am here to challenge you to have faith in your country,” he said.
Mr Ofori-Atta said Ghana had a situation where 70 per cent of its total population was under 35 years compared to the global average of 27 percent explaining that at least 109,000 students come out of the tertiary institutions each year.
“On average, about 20 million youth come out to the job market every year of which 83 per cent do not have jobs and that is really the challenge for Africa, including Ghana which we have to address,” he said.
The Sunyani forum was the middle belt version of the Springboard Youth Series organised by the Springboard Road Show Foundation to engage the youth on how they could think outside the box to create employment for themselves and others.
The programme, which was also aimed at connecting young people to business promotion agencies that provide technical and financial support for new businesses, was held on the theme: “Repositioning: Bouncing back from COVID-19 and finding opportunities”.