One thousand, three hundred and ten youth in the Greater Accra Region have been enrolled onto the Youth in Road Maintenance and Repairs Module of the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP). The module, which has already been launched in the Central, Northern, Ashanti, Volta and Eastern regions, is expected to create jobs for more than 10,000 youth in the areas of repairing and maintaining the country’s roads regularly and clearing bushes and other impediments along the roads. Launching the module in the Greater Accra Region, the Regional Minister, Nii Armah Ashietey, expressed the belief that the programme would go a long way to decrease the “unceasing road accidents and carnage that occur on our roads”. He said while the objective of the programme was to provide the youth with jobs, it would also ensure that they contributed significantly to the socio-economic development of the nation. Mr Ashietey, therefore, entreated the beneficiaries and other interested youth to make use of the opportunity in order to make the programme sustainable to create a paradigm shift from the substantial capital outlay needed to reconstruct new roads or to replace existing ones. He added that if the programme was embraced, it could bring on board youth groups of all categories who would be drawn from the formal and the informal sectors to be trained and deployed. He also lauded the Zebra Group Limited for extending their support to the government in solving the unemployment problems in the country. The regional minister expressed the hope that other entrepreneurs would enter joint partnerships with the government to create jobs for the youth. The National Co-ordinator of the NYEP, Mr Abuga Pele, said the introduction of the module in the Greater Accra Region would contribute towards the realisation of the objectives of the Millennium City Project. He expressed his disappointment at the unwillingness of some youth to take advantage of the NYEP but engaged in social vices. Mr Pele, therefore, called on the youth to stay committed to and soar above the challenges posed by society and ensure that they contributed to the socio-economic development of the country. The road maintenance and repairs module of the NYEP was launched in June last year and is directed at regular road maintenance activities such as the filling of potholes, repair of broken drains, erection of road signs, de-silting of drains, roadside clearing and alerting the roads and highways authorities to works required on the roads. The various activities under the programme will ensure that urgent measures are taken to preserve the roads and ensure that the drains flowed freely to prevent flooding. Like all NYEP modules, the module has a two-year span with the objective of resourcing the youth and equipping them with the right skills to become small-scale road contractors who will be able to win contracts on their own in future. Source: GNA