A new module to the National Youth Employment Programme, The Youth in Road Maintenance and Repair, has been launched in Accra to offer 10,000 jobs to the youth nationwide by the close of the year. A public/private sector collaboration between the Government of Ghana and Zeera Group, a private road and building construction firm based in Accra, beneficiaries of the Youth in Road Maintenance and Repair module will be tasked with the general maintenance of roads in the country, including filling up potholed roads, desilting drainages and clearing bushes by the roads, and to alert Roads and Highways authorities of works required on the roads. The government will provide funding and other resources for the programme and youth to be employed under the module while Zeera Group will provide skills training as well as manage the beneficiaries, according to the Minister of Local Government, Mr. Joseph Yieleh Chireh, who launched the module. Mr. Yieleh Chireh called for broader consultations to ensure the project rolls out harmoniously, and assured that resources have been identified to cater for the regular payment of benefits to forestall the teething difficulties associated with such initiatives. He asked beneficiaries to seize the opportunity and acquire skills as well as upgrade themselves to they remain employable. He was also of the opinion that that metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies would be doing the nation a great deal of service if they lent support by providing needed support and regularly supervising performance closely to ensure that “we get value for any money that the public will be using to support this private sector.” Deputy Local Government Minister, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, who co-chaired the launching, described the initiative as a very important intervention particularly when the rains have set in and are growing potholes into manholes. The programme will also serve as a fresh reminder for the need to institutionalize a national maintenance culture. He urged beneficiaries to be disciplined so that no ill testimonies would be given of them. Again this initiative, he said, brings to the fore the fact that governance is a process and particularly for foot soldiers and activists of various parties, the initiative must give them hope that the government is committed to its election campaign promise of finding solutions to the unemployment cases in the country by creating jobs. Elvis commended the NYEP for setting itself a target of creating 164,000 jobs by the close of the year.