President Mahama Says Raw Material Processing Is Way Forward

President John Mahama has made a strong case for multinational companies to consciously add value and process Africa's raw materials on the continent, to create sustainable jobs. 

He was speaking during a panel discussion on 'Employment & Decent Work for Inclusive Development' organized by the International Labour Organization in New York.

This, he said, would be done through concentration on processing and value addition to primary goods, a reverse from the current state of exporting only raw materials and importing back finished goods from others.

"Another way is to equip the teeming youth with Technical and Vocational skills to fit into the current job market, rather training more people in the humanities who come out to seek non-existent jobs," he said.

The discussion, which was organised by the Ford Foundation also featured President  Michelle Bachelet of Chile, President  Luis Guillermo Solis of Costa Rica, Mr Guy Ryder, Director General, International Labour Organisation and Mr Muhtar Kent, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Coca Cola Company.

Ford Foundation, which was established in 1936, has been providing grants to organisations in the United States, Latin America, Africa, Middle East and Asia.

The company is also committed to ensuring social justice with inherent programmes on strengthening democratic values, reducing poverty and injustice and advancing human knowledge, creativity and achievement.

President Mahama said in view of the lack of adequate skills among Ghanaian graduates, the government was embarking on a massive programme to train more youth on skills that could earn them decent jobs.

He said Ghana began with a socialist system where a lot of enterprises belonged to the state but is now moving away from that system to empower the private sector to play pivotal roles in job creation in the coming years.

President Mahama said the establishment of Youth Employment Support (YES) Initiative formed part of government's economic transformational strategy to reduce over reliance on government jobs.

He said job creation was essential and crucial in order to avoid youth unrest and to also encourage the youth to switch from being employees to become employers in the technical and vocational training programmes.

The President said the success of YES initiative and others in the development queue would also help stem rural/urban drifts that developing countries were currently experiencing.

President Mahama earlier on attended the Climate Change Summit and chaired a meeting on South-South Energy Initiative.
 
GBC/GNA