Some of the vehicles
The Minister for Youth Development and Empowerment, George Opare Addo, has unveiled 16 Toyota Hilux pickups at the National Youth Authority (NYA) to support the National Apprenticeship Programme (NAP).
Speaking at the unveiling, Mr. Opare Addo mentioned that the vehicles are expected to aid the coordinators of the programme to supervise training across the various regions in the country.
He said, “The rationale behind this is to give the regional coordinators some leverage so they are able to go around and supervise the training of the programme.”
According to him, President John Mahama seeks to support the youth through this initiative, noting that with effective supervision, the programme will help the youth transition from apprenticeship to entrepreneurship.
“This is a programme that His Excellency seeks to support the young people of this country with, we believe strongly that this is a programme that will move young people from apprenticeship to entrepreneurship, and it is effective supervision that will allow us to achieve this mark,” he stated.
Mr. Opare Addo used the opportunity to urge the coordinators to take good care of the vehicles, emphasising that the vehicles are new and should be used for the intended purpose.
“I want to urge whoever is going to get these vehicles to take very good care of it, the biggest problem that we have as a people is our maintenance culture. These are very new vehicles, we expect that these vehicles will be utilised and used very well,” he stressed.
He warned that the vehicles are not for private use but for the government, highlighting that the vehicles should not be sent to the farms and agricultural sites to carry foodstuffs.
He said, “These are official vehicles and these vehicles are not for private use, the cars are properly labeled as government vehicles,” adding that “This is not a vehicle for them to go and be carrying people, sending them to farms and then to the agricultural sites.”
He revealed that the vehicles will be tracked to ensure they are used solely for the intended purpose.
“We are going to put trackers on the vehicles, and we want to make sure that the cars are used for the sole purpose for which we are giving them to you,” he stated.
The National Coordinator for NAP, Nicodemus Dery, mentioned that the programme’s master craft persons have a standardised code of conduct to abide, which ensures that every apprentice is there to learn, adding that the vehicles will help in their monitoring processes.
The Volta Regional Coordinator, Johnson Kwabla Samlafo, also assured the government that the resources will be used effectively to achieve the set goal.
“We are assuring His Excellency the President and all stakeholders that we will put these resources into effective use towards achieving the set goals,” he stated.
The Minister for Youth Development and Empowerment handed over the keys to the vehicles to CEO of National Youth Authority, Osman Abdulai Ayariga Esq, who later handed them to the National Coordinator for the National Apprenticeship Programme, Nicodemus Dery.
The National Apprenticeship Programme is a government initiative designed to combat unemployment by providing technical and vocational training in the country.
By Florence Asamoah Adom