Baffour Pix
The Krontihene of New Juaben Traditional Area, Baffour Nyantakyi Tutu Boateng has called for the review of the nation’s development policies to give the youth greater opportunities to help develop the country.
According to the Krontihene, any development agenda that did not take into consideration the inputs, concerns and ambitions of the youth, was bound to suffer challenges, since the youth constitute a greater population of the country.
He urged stakeholders to continue to adopt youth development policies, measures and programmes that would create the conditions for the youth to contribute their quota to development, give expression to their views and have their voices heard.
Baffour Boateng was speaking here on Monday at this year’s Eastern Regional Festival of Arts and Culture which had the theme: “Empowering the Youth through Culture, Creative Arts for Employment and Wealth Creation.”
The event was meant to exhibit the rich cultures in the region, and to use art, drama and dance as tools to educate the public and raise awareness on pertinent issues, including government policies and interventions.
Baffour Boateng called on government and all stakeholders to create zeal in the youth to give them the urge to own the country, and be loyal in ensuring its development, adding that “it would be beneficial, if they (the youth) are made to feel as part of the country, to encourage them to contribute their quota to the development of the country.”
“Unemployment today is one of the critical challenges to youth development and a national security threat that should be battled on all fronts,” he said, stressing that a new approach was needed to solve the problem.
“The time has come for us to come out with strategies that will move the youth from depending on or expecting the government to provide non-existing jobs, to challenging our youth to be more resourceful, pioneering and champions in developing their own talents and passions,” Baffour Boateng said.
These passions, he said, could be turned into feasible and bankerable projects that would enable them to be creative and produce wealth for themselves, and for the benefit of the country.
Baffour Boateng called for improvement in marketing opportunities for the youth in cultural tourism products, and also called for the enhancement in the promotion of private sector participation.
Madam Janet Edna Nyame, Executive Director of the National Commission on Culture (NCC), said it was necessary to empower the youth through culture, tourism and creative arts for employment and wealth creation.
She said, “Youth empowerment is all about inculcating confidence, respect and dignity that serve as the catalyst for the youth to aspire and realise their innate potential and using them for their benefits and the benefit of society as a whole.”
The youth, she said, constituted a vital part of the country’s population, hence “the fabric of our existence as Ghanaians can realise perfection, if conscious effort is made to inculcate the positive aspects of our culture to the youth to guide them for life,” adding that “failure to do so means total destruction of the basis of our existence as Ghanaians.”
Mr Kwakye Daffour, Eastern Regional Minister, urged the youth not to be swayed by western cultures, but uphold the country’s rich culture, saying its positive values would help them build a vibrant and successful country.
FROM AMA TEKYIWAA AMPADU AGYEMAN, KOFORIDUA
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