Mrs Sedina Tamakloe Attionu, National Co-ordinator of National Youth Authority, has called on employers to welcome the youth into their fold and strengthen existing partnerships with youth-led and youth focused initiatives for a Better Ghana.

Mrs Attionu said this in a statement issued in Accra to mark International Youth Day 2012.

The Day is on the theme "Building a Better World, Partnering With the Youth, Prospects for a Better Ghana."

Mrs Attionu expressed the hope that the youth would not forget the vision of the late President when he said his administration would not relent in empowering the youth for the task of nation building.

She said it was under the tenure of the late President that the National Youth Policy of Ghana was launched and the Africa Youth Charter ratified.

She said currently, the youth belong to the largest demographic and as a result are confronted with numerous challenges with unemployment even for the highly educated and thus there is disillusion and disappointment which has in some cases led to societal upheavals in other places like the ‘Arab Spring’ unrest."

Mrs Attionu said the formulation of the National Youth Policy under the theme: “Towards an Empowered Youth, Impacting Positively on National Development”, was aimed at empowering and helping to address the needs of the youth.

She said President John Mahama equally recognises the role of the youth and upon assuming office, he has already extended a hand of partnership to the youth calling on them to support him build Ghana and make it a better place for us all."

Mrs Attionu said the National Youth Authority has finished consulting young people across the ten Regions of Ghana for further action in the implementation of the National Youth Policy and that “we know that the time to integrate youth voices in a systematic manner into the decision-making process at all levels is now."**