National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has said youth unemployment remains the biggest challenge confronting the country, stressing that the government is taking steps to address the situation through various intervention programmes.
Speaking during his ongoing thank-you tour of the Tolon Constituency, Mr. Asiedu Nketia urged party supporters not to allow anger and disappointment to divide the NDC, but rather channel their frustrations into the pursuit of justice for the late Haruna Shaibu, popularly known as Alhaji, who lost his life during the 2024 elections.
“If you say you are not working for your party and the party in Tolon goes down, who benefits? Is it not the NPP? So please don’t allow anger to destroy you,” he said.
According to him, the pain over Alhaji’s death should instead motivate supporters to continue demanding justice rather than turning against their own party.
“The way to fight for justice is not to destroy your own party. The way to fight for justice is to fight the person who benefited from the death of your brother,” he stated.
Mr. Asiedu Nketia assured party faithful that both the NDC leadership and the government remain committed to ensuring justice for the deceased.
“This is my assurance that we will not relent in our struggle for justice for Alhaji, and personally, I have taken steps in pursuing this matter,” he added.
On unemployment, the NDC Chairman acknowledged the frustrations among the youth, noting that the government is aware of the growing economic pressures facing young people.
“The biggest problem in the country now is youth unemployment. Government is not lying idle. Government recognises that it is not possible to give everyone appointment letters, but what is possible is to train people to take advantage of various employment opportunities,” he said.
He listed initiatives such as the apprenticeship programme, youth entrepreneurship programme, youth in agriculture initiative and the One Million Coders Programme as some of the interventions being rolled out to create opportunities for young people.
However, he admitted that financial constraints inherited by the government had affected the pace of implementation.
“The reason you are not feeling the impact yet is because of the financial constraints that we inherited. So far, we have not been able to enrol sufficient numbers of our youth into training under these programmes,” he explained.
Mr. Asiedu Nketia disclosed that the government’s next budget would place greater emphasis on funding youth-centred programmes to expand opportunities and reduce unemployment across the country.
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