"Youths are assets to a nation's development." ~ Mr Joel Degue writes.

Youth is the time of life when one is young, and often means the time between childhood and adulthood (maturity). Youths are the people between the ages of 15 to 30 and according to another school of thought, from 25 to 35.

It is also defined as "the appearance, freshness, vigor, spirit, etc., characteristic of one who is young".

" Youths are assets to a nation's development. Neglecting them will spell doom and danger in the future." Joel Degue.

In recent times, my memory could help me recollect the following: National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), Ghana Youth Entrepreneurship and Employment Development Agency (GYEEDA), Local/Youth Enterprise and Skills Development Programme (LESDEP/ YESDEP), Youth Enterprise Support (YES)Fund, National Youth Agency (NYA), National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan (NEIP), Youth Bank (YB), National Builders Corps (NaBCo), and a host others before the year 2000.

What are the impacts of all these programmes with gargantuan budgetary allocations given to them over the years?

The same programmes in other countries have succeeded greatly by empowering young men and women to take charge of their socioeconomic lives through decent jobs. We in Ghana have failed in all such initiatives. What at all is wrong with us as a people. 

I have followed and studied all these programmes on comparative terms with what happened in other countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Vietnam, India, Rwanda, Kenya, etc. It was total failure, government after government. Nothing to show off after many years and huge investments. What is really wrong with this beautiful country of ours?

Ghana is not a serious country when it comes to youth and women empowerment. The results and indicators are not just there to show the real impacts of such programmes with the huge financial outlays.

Youth in Ghana are now an "endangered species". Very soon, and it has started already, we will start seeing the negative socioeconomic impacts of neglecting the youth in our society. Do you still remember the Arab Springs Movement that hit the Arab world a little over 10 years ago? We are not far from other such upheavals across the world. The signs are all over on walls.

Let's turn our attention to the youth, the most important segment of our society. Let's empower the youth and the women, key development agents in our society. This is a divine calling, a condition sine qua non. Any government that does that will ever have the blessings of the Almighty God on their administration. The earlier, the better!

Entrepreneurship and Skills Development Programmes are the ONLY keys to solving youth unemployment.

Joel Degue

Executive Director

Leoj Consult

(The Ideas Factory)

NB: I have developed a strategic proposal for training about 200 youths every year in entrepreneurship and skills development in every district in Ghana for the next five years. That will be raising 1,000 young Entrepreneurs in every district in Ghana by empowering them by starting them up.

I suggested this in a post after NaBCO was launched. If this was followed and implemented, today we will be having about 100,000 young Entrepreneurs with startups across the country, employing between 3-5 other people already. Can you imagine the number of jobs that would have been created already? Today, look at what is happening at the NaBCO front? Total mess!

Hope it's time I meet the Minister of Finance, Employment, the Director of Ghana Enterprise Agency (GEA/NBSSI) for a discussion on finding solution to youth employment in this our dear country.

Let's start thinking not inside or outside the box, but rather thinking WITHOUT the box. Creative, innovative, imaginative, intuitive and novel ideas in solving our age old problems. It's been too long, we can solve youth unemployment, empower them fully for your economic take off.

I believe it's possible. Let's give it all our very best. We can! Yes, we can, if we think we can!

Joel Degue

I am a trained consultant with an MBA in Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development from School of Business of University of Cape Coast (UCC).

Thank you.