Yaw Osafo Maafo (middle) and Ursula Owusu, Minister of Communications (4th right) with some other officials at the launch of the project.
For accepting to engage over 3,000 unemployed youth after a three-month all-expenses-paid training programme, Ecobank Ghana, a truly pan-African bank, has earned the praise of government.
The leading financial institution signed a partnership deal with the National Youth Authority (NYA), paving the way for the training project.
Known as the Digital Marketing & Entrepreneurship Programme, the project was on Thursday launched in Accra by Yaw Osafo Maafo, Senior Minister, on behalf of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
It recruited persons aged between 15 and 35 with minimum knowledge in Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
According to managers of the project, e-Marketing and Digital Media Entrepreneurship Training has the potential to help create a more practical and current set of learning tools to match the rapidly changing skills required in today’s workforce, building a new generation with the required skills and confidence to succeed in an emerging knowledge society.
NYA is also collaborating with organizations like Accra Digital Centre, Kofi Annan ICT Centre, District Assemblies and Members of Parliament (MPs) to carry out the programme.
In a pre-launch speech, Mr Osafo Maafo noted: “We expect reciprocal gesture from all businesses to help us tackle our development challenges so that there will be win-win situation for all parties. This commitment by Ecobank to create jobs is worthy of emulation and government is throwing a huge challenge to different categories of businesses to emulate this gesture by Ecobank. Ecobank, you are indeed the Pan-African bank.”
In his State of the Nation Address on Thursday, President Akufo-Addo indicated: “This programme, with 10 regional training centres, has already recruited 3,000 young, unemployed people, to undergo a three-month all-expenses-paid training. I am happy to announce that Ecobank Ghana Ltd has already offered to engage all 3,000 young people, after the training programme. This is just the tip of the iceberg.”
President Akufo-Akufo revealed that the job creation was the priority of his administration’s agenda.
“The number of young people, who cannot find work, is staggering, and a threat to our national security. I am determined to work to guarantee and secure the future of the young men and women of our country.
“Every major policy that my government has implemented in the past year has been essentially about the youth. We will equip the youth with the skills that will enable them to be productive.
“As a start, this government has established the Nation Builders Corps to employ 100,000 young persons, in 2018 alone, to assist in public sector service delivery in health, education, agriculture, sanitation and the revenue collection department of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).”
By Samuel Boadi