The government is to distribute 100,000 laptops to tertiary students across the country to support their research work.

President John Mahama, who made this known, said the presentation of the laptops to the students, which would begin by the end of this year, was to enable the students to conduct research that could yield the needed results to support the country’s development efforts.

The President was speaking at the National Youth Achievers Awards at the Accra International Conference Centre Thursday.

The idea of the awards was mooted by President Mahama when he was Vice-President and sponsored by rlg Communications Limited to honour the youth who have distinguished themselves in various fields of endeavour.

The awards cover the media, literary arts, visual arts, music, science, film production, fashion, academic excellence and rural development.

Mr Mike Nyinaku, a young entrepreneur, emerged the winner of the Youth Personality Award (Male Division), while Ms Eunice Ogbogu, also an entrepreneur, won the Youth Personality Award (Female Division).

The Media Excellence Award was jointly won by Manasseh Azure Awuni and Anas Aremeyaw Anas, while Ms Jackie Appiah and Ms Shirley Frimpong-Manso were adjudged winners in the performing arts and film categories, respectively.

The Black Maidens won the sports category, with Ms Farida Efua Bedwei, a physically challenged athlete, taking the special award. A former captain of the Black Stars, Stephen Appiah, was the proud recipient of the Leadership Award.

The President said he was of the conviction that the youth were the present and future leaders of the country.

He said it was for that reason that the government had dedicated itself to build their capacity and create job avenues for them.

For instance, he said, the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) had been transformed to offer more skills training to the youth to make them employable on the job market.

Again, the government was coming up with a youth entrepreneur programme to support the youth to establish their own small and medium-scale enterprises, he said.

The President said the government would give the seed money for the youth to start their business under the programme and urged the private sector to come on board to contribute towards the programme.

On the elections, President Mahama urged the youth not to allow any selfish politician to use them to visit mayhem on their perceived political opponents.

He reminded them that the future of Ghana was in their hands, hence the need for them to jealously protect the country’s peace.

The President congratulated the award winners on their achievement and asked them to continue to explore other avenues of enriching themselves.

He asked other youth to be creative and innovative to develop their potential and be in a better position to contribute significantly to the country’s socio-economic development.