If we don’t address the issue of unemployment, we will face violence from the youth - Opare Addo

Accra, Ghana - 22 Jan, 2025 - Ghana's Minister-Designate for Youth Development and Empowerment, George Opare Addo, has stressed the urgent need to eradicate violence from national development, emphasizing that it has no place in the Ghana he envisions.

Speaking during his parliamentary vetting, Opare Addo attributed the prevalence of violence to rising youth unemployment, warning that failure to address this challenge threatens the country's stability.

Opare Addo pledged to collaborate with relevant agencies to create sustainable jobs and engage young people in the development process. He emphasized that addressing unemployment is crucial to preventing violence

“Violence has no place in the Ghana that I want. Violence has no space in national development, so nobody should subscribe to it,” he stated.

“If we don’t address the challenge of unemployment, we will always have this issue of violence staring us in the face,” he added.

The minister-designate also highlighted the vital role of young people in shaping Ghana's future, advocating for their active participation and a focus on reorienting their mindset. To tackle the root causes of youth unrest, he committed to providing skill training and sustainable employment opportunities.

“The Ghana we want requires active participation of the youth, who constitute the majority of the Ghanaian population. Resetting Ghana means total re-engagement—that is, reorienting their minds, engaging them, and building for all of us a Ghana that we will be proud of,” he said.

“If I have a job in the morning and you call me to come anywhere, there’s no way I will follow you. We will aggressively tackle unemployment by rendering skill training to those willing to work and change the narrative, so post-election violence does not continue,'' he added.

Source: Lead News online