The Mayor of Cape Coast, Hon. George Justice Arthur, has reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to creating a conducive environment that will drive youth employment and skills development in the metropolis, assuring the Chief Executive Officer of the National Youth Authority (NYA) and the Government of Ghana of sustained collaboration to tackle youth unemployment.

The assurance was given at the presentation of tools and equipments to the first batch of apprentices and master crafts persons under the NYA's National Apprenticeship Programme (NAP) in the Cape Coast Metropolis. A ceremony which was graced by the NYA CEO.

The program described as a "bold investment in Ghana's future" which aligns with the NDC's 2024 manifesto priorities regarding job creation, aims to empower youth through skills development in areas such as tailoring, carpentry, electrical work, and hairdressing. An initiative designed to train 10,000 to 100,000 Ghanaian youths annually, with an initial 2025 budget allocation of GH¢300 million.

The event saw beneficiaries of the program receive tools like sewing machines, hair dryers, safety boots, scissors, toolboxes, among several other tools.

Hon. George Justice Arthur, speaking at the ceremony noted that youth unemployment remains a critical challenge in Cape Coast, but emphasized that the Assembly is determined to create a conducive environment to leverage policy support, private-sector partnerships, and local opportunities to expand decent jobs for its young individuals.

He stressed that the Assembly will discard all administrative bottlenecks, provide institutional backing, and facilitate access to spaces and services needed for youth programmes to thrive.

“As Mayor of Cape Coast, I'm ever ready to create the enabling environment—through collaboration, policy alignment, and infrastructure support—so that our young people can gain skills, start businesses, and secure sustainable employment,” he said.

Hon. Osman Abdullai Ayariga (Esq), The NYA CEO welcomed the Mayor’s commitment, describing Cape Coast as a strategic hub for piloting youth employment interventions, as he eulogized the National Apprenticeship Program for its skills acquisition, start-up incubation, and job placement, and called for closer coordination with the Assembly to maximize impact.

Mr. Ayariga again urged master craft persons to properly train apprentices rather than merely using them as laborers and cautioned apprentices to desist from the attitude of selling any of the tools given to them by the government to facilitate their training, since such act contravenes the law and can have one arrested for sale of government property.

MP for Cape Coast North Constituency, Hon. Kwamena Mintah Nyarku in his address, implored masters of these apprentices who received of the tools distribution, to pour their hearts out to have these apprentices trained adequately as required of them by the government.

He further urged them to treat these apprentices as their own children, taking into consideration the possibility they may in one way or the other shift focus and go astray, but in all that, they must be accommodative enough to tolerate all their wayward lifestyles but train them with abject love to have them secure a meaningful future path.

The event which witnessed over 100 apprentices given needed tools for their skill training, signals a shared resolve by the Metropolitan Assembly, the NYA, and the Government to place young people at the center of Cape Coast’s development agenda, with employment and skills development as key drivers of inclusive growth.

Sompaonline.com//Eric Annan