The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Kweku Ricketts-Hagan has urged unemployed youth to take advantage of the Rural Enterprise Programme (REP) to reduce youth unemployment in the country.
He disclosed this at this year’s Annual Rural Exhibition and Trade Show held in Bolgatanga on Wednesday.
The REP programme which was implemented in 2003 has so far attracted about 400 micro and small enterprises from 161 districts and municipalities in the country.
[contextly_sidebar id=”EwC4NcjNtjFch90F9W2SYM0yL3jrYwFm”]Mr. Ricketts-Hagan said the pro-poor initiative is aimed at optimizing the potentials of the youth in rural communities citing the existence of natural resources in the production of goods and services as a major source of livelihood.
He bemoaned challenges bedeviling the operations of small businesses but assured them of government interventions in creating an enabling and stable macro-economic environment that will facilitate and sustain their growth and help them reach out to international markets.
The Deputy Minister urged Ghanaians to patronize locally produced goods as their contribution towards stabilizing the Ghana Cedi .
Mr. Ricketts-Hagan also advised all unemployed Ghanaians particularly the youth to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the Rural Enterprises Programme.
“Beginning 2015, the Rural Enterprises Programme in collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture will establish support programmes to enable graduates from secondary, technical vocational and tertiary institutions to go into various agri-business ventures. This will provide the youth an opportunity to become their own bosses and not necessarily wait for government to provide jobs for them,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Upper East Regional Minister, James Zugah Tiigah said Ghana has the potential as a nation to promote small scale industrialization that could lead to job creation and self sufficiency by changing our altitude towards locally produced goods and embark on an aggressive agenda towards the consumption of made-in Ghana goods as a way of sustaining our local industries and enterprises.
Mr. Tiigah said frantic efforts to design interventions to seek assistance for community members in areas like piggery, donkey production, tree crop production and agricultural production under REP minimize the bureaucratic inertia.
He bemoaned the inability of people in the region to take advantage of the peaceful and vast potential resources in the region and therefore challenged the youth to take advantage of REP to change the trend.
National Director of REP, Kwasi Attah-Antwi said the programme since its implementation has benefited about 67,000 individuals through skill acquisition for self employment and emphasized that, the programme in its third phase is targeting 200,000 individuals in various communities across the country with skill training and financial support.
Mr. Attah-Antwi urged the youth to take advantage of established business advisory centers in all district and municipalities to acquire skills to generate self sustainable employment.
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By: Frederick Awuni/citifmonline.com/Ghana