THE huge band of unemployed youth in the country, especially those who are unable to make it to the high echelons of the educational ladder, will for now heave a great sigh of relief following the launch in Accra yesterday by the government of a new module under the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) designed to absorb more than 10,000 of their ranks into the country’s road sector.
The new educational reform does not envisage education to be terminal at the basic level but the large number of students who drop out before the senior high school and tertiary levels has aggravated the unemployment situation in the country to very unacceptable levels. The truth is that in spite of the huge chunk of students absorbed by the private tertiary institutions to pursue various disciplines the number of youth who join the bandwagon is becoming increasingly high.
The new initiative is, therefore, said to be part of a sustained effort to widen employment opportunities for the youth and establish various teams to constantly maintain and repair the country’s roads and make them motorable and reduce the frequency of accidents on them.
It will be implemented under a private/public partnership, and initially create jobs for 1,000 youth in each of the 10 regions and build the capacity and sharpen the skills of hundreds of young people, particularly those who have studied engineering at the tertiary level.
Though publicised as a labour-intensive project, it is not too clear whether this new module is an answer to the unemployment problem facing the nation, but, at least, it offers some solution to the situation.
Significantly, it offers some openings for the youth, both skilled and unskilled, in all the ten regions of the country. And beyond the employment opportunities, this module will help the country’s road network, especially the feeder roads and the peripheries of some major roads, improve tremendously.
The DAILY GRAPHIC recalls the activities of the Public Works Department (PWD) in post-independent Ghana when the department’s labour gangs periodically maintained all roads, including feeder roads in the country, by weeding the shoulders of the roads and filling the potholes to make access to the hinterlands less cumbersome.
Along the line, the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) and the Department of Feeder Roads took over these roles but they were also faced with the national malaise that afflicted most state institutions such that they were unable to deliver on their mandates.
As a result of the lack of resources, these two institutions were unable to cope with the maintenance of the country’s road network. These maintenance exercises have to be given out on contract, including the weeding of the shoulders of the roads, but here again the situation has not improved.
The DAILY GRAPHIC lauds the government for the latest initiative to offer employment to the youth who will help keep our roads motorable all the time.
We find refreshing the admonition of the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh, to the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDA) of the critical role required of them in the programme.
We add to what the honourable minister said and caution the various assemblies to keep an eagle’s eye on this initiative to ensure that those recruited work hard to earn their keep and also contribute to national development.
We are sounding this caution because of the tendency among Ghanaians not to offer their best when called upon to give their services on government-initiated projects. They always hold this false notion that “when government owns nobody owns and, therefore, nobody cares”.
The DAILY GRAPHIC prays that this negative tendency must not be the mindset of the people who will be recruited to work on the module.
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