<<Print>>

The giants strides made in accelerating the provision of jobs to the teaming Ghanaian youth by the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) under the able leadership of Sammi Awuku, Board Chairman and Justin Kodua Frimpong, CEO of YEA have enhanced the image of the agency according to the National Youth Organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Henry Nana Boakye aka Nana B.

Prior to 2017, YEA had lost it’s relevance as the erstwhile NDC government used the agency as cash cow to siphon millions of US Dollars thereby relegating it’s job provision mandate to the abyss.

However, the agency has seen significant changes in its management strategies in the execution of its core mandate in the past two and half years the new Board and Management took over the running of the agency.

The appointment of Mr. Sammi Awuku was greeted with much cynicism and skepticism as members of the opposition NDC, based on his age, questioned his qualification for the job and downplayed his competence to revive and reposition the agency to be effective and efficient.

Touching on the attacks that Sammi Awuku’s appointment attracted, Nana B stated that, “the sterling performance of Sammi Awuku has not only silence his detractors but has established a solid precedence that, going forward, will form the basis for the consideration and appointment of the Ghanaian youth to assume top positions in government and politics. In deed, Sammi Awuku is an African youth icon and a trailblazer.”

Since 2017, the agency has employed about 107,000 youth under varied modules which include Youth in Agriculture, Youth in Afforestation, Community Protection Personnel etc.

The agency is set to launch four transformational initiatives with far-reaching solutions to youth unemployment in the country. The initiatives which will be launched on 2nd October, 2019 by the Vice President, Alhaji Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia include the YEA Job Center, Artisan Directory, Flagship Projects and Work Abroad.

The primary goal of the Job Centre Ghana, a novelty and an all-encompassing concept, is to strategically position the Agency to serve as a one-stop shop to provide skills and connect job seekers to employers aimed at addressing the unemployment concerns of the youth of the country.

Whiles the Agriculture-based flagship programme will be a development programme which will be initiated in various regions and districts focusing on the natural resource in the area, the Work Aboard programme will also enable the export of young professionals such as nurses and teachers, into other countries.

According to Nana B, these transformational initiatives are laudable as they focus on practical and high-impact solutions to unemployment.

“While Ghana’s economic growth is strong, there is an urgent need to promote inclusive economic transformation and jobs-induced growth to improve the quality of life for the Ghanaian youth and I’m optimistic that YEA under the leadership of Sammi Awuku and Lawyer Justin Kodua is up to the task and for this, I boldly state that the image of YEA is at all time high under Sammi Awuku and Lawyer Justin Kodua,” Nana B asserted.