Government votes GHC84 million for LESDEP-Vice President

Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Saturday gave the assurance that government would do everything under its purview to create more jobs for the unemployed youth.

He said in line with the job creation agenda, government this year voted GH?84 million under the Local Enterprise and Skill Development Project (LESDEP) to train more youth to gain employable skills.

Vice President Mahama gave the assurance when he commissioned 300 locally assembled DONFENG multi-purpose trucks at Baatsonaa in the Greater Accra Region.

LESDEP is an initiative by government, which seeks to give specialised training in all trade sectors and is implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and other agencies including the National Youth Employment Programme.

The Vice President said under LESDEP, government would equip more youth on setting up enterprises to become employers, rather than nursing the ambition of becoming employees of government and other agencies.

He said the project is targeting all sectors of the economy and not only well-educated graduates, “and that is why I am particularly happy that, car washing machines, beverage dispensing machines and other skilled training programmes are embedded in the project”.

Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, said so many unemployed youth had been provided with equipment in the areas of computer and mobile phone repairs, dress making, fashion design, mini cargo transport services among other interventions.

He said 400 liquid fertilisers would be distributed to the youth in agriculture to boost their yield and enhance their financial capacity.

He noted that with the assembling of the trucks in Ghana, it would afford the country to export some of the vehicles to other African countries.

He said the multi-purpose trucks could be used to transport food stuff from the rural areas to the market centres and could also serve as a means of transport for other commodities for businesses.

Mr Ofosu-Ampofo called on the youth to take advantage of the opportunity provided to empower themselves to face future challenges.

He assured the Baatsonaa market women of his Ministry’s commitment to collaborate with other agencies to build a multi-purpose market complex for them, which would comprise stores, shopping mall, banks and insurance companies.

Mr Adem Gariba, LESDEP Programme Manager, said the programme is a public private partnership aimed at providing entrepreneurial, technical and other specialised skills to create and manage businesses.

He appealed to the beneficiaries to adhere to the maintenance guides of the various equipment and kits for a long life span.