The government has finished the compilation of data on 2,000 head porters and truck pushers in major urban centres in the country, to enable them to undergo a one-year entrepreneurial training, Vice-President John Mahama, has announced. He said the skills training, to be provided in phases by the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET), would enable the trainees to earn a decent living while contributing to socio-economic development of the country. Vice-President Mahama disclosed this in Accra on Wednesday, when he handed over equipment to support the skills development of the first batch of 200, out of the 2,000 trainees captured in the data base. The items, which included electronic tool kits, tools for auto mechanics, hair dryers and sewing machines, were provided by DANIDA, in collaboration with COTVET of the Ministry of Education. The trainees are also to be provided allowances to meet the cost of transportation during the training period. Vice-President Mahama said the completion of the database followed a meeting he convened in Accra last year which brought together 1,000 kayayei, to listen to their challenges and the factors that accounted for their migration to the south. Thereafter, he said his office liaised with several umbrella bodies that represented the interest of the head porters and youth engaged in other menial jobs, and presented them with computers to compile data of their membership. Consequently, he said, the COTVET was approached to tailor a phased apprenticeship programme for the kayayei, truck pushers and other youth engaged in other menial jobs, to enable them to acquire employable skills. Mr. Mahama underscored the need for the government to address the ‘push and pull’ factors that compel young men to move in droves from the north to the south in search of greener pastures; a situation he attributed to the over-concentration of business opportunities in the urban areas. Noting that about 80 per cent of business and industry were located in Accra and Tema alone while the north accounted for about three per cent; he stressed the need for the country to diversify its growth poles. “It is not fair that after 52 years of independence, our growth poles are only in Accra and Tema, that is why the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority was introduced to engender growth equity and create food security,” he said. Vice-President Mahama observed that the unemployment problem in Ghana was “structural,” saying, there were job vacancies but what were lacking was people with the requisite skills to take up such jobs. A representative of DANIDA, Mr. Fred Pappoe, emphasised the commitment of the Danish Government to work with its Ghanaian counterpart on issues relating to youth employment and skills training. Source: The Ghanaian Times/Ghana