President of the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG), Mohammed Kwaku Doku has attributed extreme poverty in both rural and urban areas in Ghana on the over reliance on government.

According to him, there are a lot of young entrepreneurs and graduates with brilliant ideas who can begin in their own small ways to reduce unemployment which will lead to reduction in poverty.

He said these young entrepreneurs and graduates are sitting idle waiting for what he described as “white colored job” in the public sector which is not helping the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) sector.

“Ghanaians rely on government too much, but in my humble opinion I think that is because of the challenges we are facing” the NALAG Boss stated.

Alhaji Mohammed Kwaku Doku was speaking Wednesday on Adom FM’s “Burning Issues” programme with Afia Pokua on how Ghana as a country can reduce poverty.

The 2015 Millennium Development Goal report indicated that extreme poverty in the rural areas continues to deepen in Ghana despite strides made in the urban areas to reduce the phenomenon.

The report suggested that Ghana managed to halve the proportion of people living in extreme poverty between 1990 and 2006 but much progress has not been seen in rural and northern Ghana.

The three northern regions have recorded worse poverty levels with the highest poverty ratio  recorded in the Upper West Region, Upper West and the Northern regions in 2013 was 47.1 per cent, the report concluded.

Alhaji Doku believes that without the support of the various assemblies in the country, poverty will still remain among Ghanaians.

He also challenged the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to support young entrepreneurs in order to reduce poverty.

“The assemblies should support graduates with brilliant ideas to create wealth for themselves," he said.

He added that most young entrepreneurs need to be supported by their various assemblies to enable them create jobs.