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The Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has charged the youth of the country to eschew the mindset of impossibilities and be open-minded to see the numerous opportunities in this era of globalisation and digitised environment.

He said the surest way to a sustainable employment path would not come from waiting for the jobs but by encouraging “ourselves to apply our creativity and skills towards building opportunities across fields”.

Dr Bawumia, who was addressing the opening of the Ghana Youth Congress at the Church of Pentecost Convention Centre at Gomoa Fetteh in the Central Region last Tuesday, told the youth: “Your present circumstances will not determine your future but rather your dreams, aspirations and hard work.”

Youth congress

The Ghana Youth Congress, slated from Tuesday February 8 to Friday, February 11, 2022, is on the theme: “Ghana my home, my future”.

The Ghana gathering, a precursor to the continental congress to be organised by the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), is under the auspices of the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG).

It has brought together about 500 youth from various churches across the country to learn and encourage one another to share stories of belief, nationalism and patriotism.

“I want you to know, as youth, that with God and hard work, everything is possible. In life, you meet a lot of naysayers; you want to do this and they say it has not been done before or it is not possible. But I tell you that if you put your mind to it, you can make it possible,” the Vice-President said, adding: “Only diligent and hardworking youth will be rewarded in the current global economy.”

Speaking on the vital role of the youth in nation-building, Dr Bawumia shared his childhood experiences at the Sakasaka Primary School in Tamale and at the Tamale Secondary School and said schooling at that time was under very difficult circumstances.

For instance, he said, there were instances when there were no books nor water and at times they had to study with lanterns.

“As you go through life, you will face obstacles; people will try to tear you down, but stay focused on your goals and ambitions and do not let them tear you down. This is the spirit we have to bring to build our nation,” he added.

Digitised systems

While explaining what Ghana, and for that matter the government, led by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, had been doing in the area of digitalisation, Dr Bawumia indicated that it had deliberately been putting in place many systems that the country had never had since independence.

He said the unique national identity cards, the digital addresses, the need for financial inclusion, the medical drone delivery services, among others, were some of the systems instituted by the government in its economic transformation agenda.

Youth empowerment

Touching on what the government was doing to empower the youth, Dr Bawumia mentioned skills development, which, he said, was presently essential, and cited the banking sector which had engaged in skills development programmes for about 150,000 youth for the next three years.

Similarly, the Vice-President said, the tourism, arts and culture sector also targeted to train and certify 10,000 people by 2023.
 
“It is estimated that nine million jobs in Ghana will require technical digital skills by 2030. Therefore, the importance of digital training and up-scaling for our youth to provide the needed digital skill in the future cannot be overemphasised.

“This is central to the successful implementation of the governments’ digitalisation agenda over the long run,” he said.

He commended the role of the church in supporting the government towards mitigating the plight of Ghanaian youth and creating opportunities for them to appreciate Ghana as their home and their future.