The Omanhene of The New Juabeng Traditional Area and the President of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs, Daasebre Professor Oti Boateng has noted that young people in the country could be seen as empowered when they acknowledge that they have or can create choices in life.

He said they must also be aware of the implications of those choices as well as making an informed decision freely which will results in actions based on those decisions.

Daasebre Oti Boateng was delivering the opening remarks for this year’ Annual New Year School and Conference in Accra.

The 63rd Annual New Year School was under the theme, “One year of oil and Gas Production: Emerging issues.”

He noted that empowering young people means creating and supporting the enabling conditions under which they can act on their own behalf, and on their own terms rather than at the direction of others.

He was of the view that Ghana has reached a stage where it has huge advantage of empowering her young people who will be the future of the nation.

He therefore called on the government put in place measure that will ensure that the youth of the country will benefit from the nation’s oil and gas production by providing them with training and skill that will make them useful in the industry.

“No nation ever developed by relying solely on foreign expertise. The oil and gas industry requires highly trained and skilled human resources at various levels to operate efficiently and effectively. The industry has the potential to create jobs through proper integration to help address the problem of unemployment especially for the youth.” He observed.

He said thee is a serious lack of education among the youth in Ghana and their counterparts in West Africa who occupy the lowest rankings in terms of education and skill training. Lack of education and weak family ties make the jobless youth vulnerable and pliable to be used as the tool for conflicts and violence with detrimental consequences.

According to the longest serving Government Statistician in the country, “for a realistic youth empowerment in the country to take place, the nation’s educational system requires a fundamental re-orientation designed to meet not only the current employment regime but also to cultivate an African intellectual appetite for creative home-grown solutions.”

“Appropriate education is essential to help the youth build the skills needed for the jobs. As a nation we need to put a high premium on creative scholarship. Building a knowledge-based economy will dramatically improve our negotiation skills nationally and internationally and further propel our development to new heights.” Daasebre Oti Boateng noted.

Daasebre Oti Boateng acknowledged that the oil and gas find in Ghana is a God given window of opportunity which the nation must utilize to the fullest extent possible before it closes.

The president of the Eastern regional House of Chiefs has over the period of the production of oil and gas in the country, called upon on several occasions to either chair or speak at various fora on the Oil and Gas Industry in Ghana.

For instance in February last year he chaired an international Conference under the theme, “Oil and Gas Discovery in Ghana- the Synergy Between Management, Development and Environment” this was organized by the Department of Oil and Gas Engineering of the All Nations University in Koforidua, the first Private University to get such accreditation of which, the Traditional Leader of the Area is incidentally the Chancellor. He also spoke at the 2011 Annual Seminar of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors on the theme “The Land Surveyor- Agent of Development of the Oil and Gas Industry.”

In August last year Daasebre gave keynote address on at the M- Plaza Hotel in Accra on Oil production Conference, and then again on 24th November 2011, he chaired the opening session of an International Conference on “The Avoidance of the Oil Curse in Ghana” which was organized by the National Development Planning Commission in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy at the New Capital View Hotel in Koforidua where H.E. The Vice President John Dramani Mahama gave the keynote address.