The Greater Accra regional National Service Personnel Association (NASPA) Tuesday held a seminar on wealth creation through entrepreneurship and agriculture for outgoing personnel. The first of any such seminar to be held by the regional association, it was aimed at preparing participants for the world of work and to expose them to some of the opportunities available to them and thus help address the nagging question of what next after National Service, according to Mr. Ebenezer A. Edzii, Regional Director of National Service Scheme. Dr. Samuel Kojo Dapaah, a lecturer at the University of Ghana and one of several resource persons, told the students they cannot have any excuse to be jobless after acquiring tertiary education and as long as they have good health. He said there are opportunities in agriculture such as in animal husbandry and cereals production; the services sector such as in transport and storage, financial intermediation, real estate, in land acquisition itself and several others to which they must commit their resources and ingenuity. Dr. Dapaah said one’s success or failure in life is not determined so much by the prevailing conditions but more so by the decisions the person makes, counseling that it is not enough for them to have passed out of university education or to have acquired book knowledge; but now the world expects them to think and produce solutions. Justifying his call for investment in land, Dr. Dapaah said at independence Ghana for instance, with a total area of 92 square miles had a total population of 6.7 million, making an average of 28 persons per square mile. After the 2000 census the population came to 18.9 million and thus an average of 80 persons to a square mile. “Then in 2010 the population was 24.2 million, so you move to 103 people per square mile. By 2050, if we are able to reduce the population growth rate from 2.4 percent to 2 per cent, Ghana’s population will be 53 million and there will be 225 people to the same square mile. “What does it mean? To illustrate what it means, the joke is that when God was sharing the resources of the world the place called Ghana he put gold, oil palm – everything – and the people (others) said why are you giving this little country everything, why are you giving oil? And He said well you will see what they will do. People will talk, and talk about the fact that they gave oil palm seedling to Malaysia but they will not talk about what they are going to do to produce as much oil palm as Malaysian has done. They will fold their arms and talk about it… That is the Ghanaian for you.” He said with the squeeze on land, and given that Ghana is not expected to ‘find’ any new lands, the price of land, irrespective of where it is situated, can only be expected to appreciate. “Whatever opportunity you have to invest in land, you make that investment irrespective of where that land is because I have told you that by 2050, there will be 225 Ghanaians trying to fit unto one square mile. So land is your number one wealth creation.” Dr. Dapaah said they should look more to the private sector for opportunities because it holds about 70 per cent of all jobs. He said before the rebasing of Ghana’s economy, the country’s labour force of 10 million was distributed largely among Agriculture (55 per cent) and with 13 per cent each for Industry and Services. Presently however, he said the services sector represent 51 per cent of GDP while agriculture has reduced to 30 per cent and Industry at 19 per cent. “So you are going to look for jobs. One of your best bets is the Service (sector),” he urged the students, explaining that in the entire West African sub-region, the word “Service” has yet to find meaning and so presents a ready area for them to establish themselves.