Accra, Jan 18, GNA - Government has been urged to strengthen the National Youth Council (NYC) to make it a real resource centre for youth development. Dr Emmanuel Osafo, National Chairman of Ghana Young Men Christian Association (YMCA), who made the call, expressed concern that the structures of the NYC had remained weak while at the same time parallel structures such as the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) had been set up.

He was addressing participants at the opening session of a three-day Country Focus Group Meeting aimed at assessing YMCA's progress in prosecuting an agenda for young Ghanaians. The meeting is expected to discuss and agree on strategies for youth work in 2010 and also serve as a precursor for the Partnership for Youth Conference to be hosted by YMCA, Ghana in May. Dr Osafo said while YMCA was not against government's action on youth unemployment, it held the view that interventions such as the NYEP could have been executed by the NYC that had offices in every district in the country.

"This could have saved money used to establish a separate bureaucracy for the NYEP," he said. Dr Osafo expressed the hope that government would be guided by the lessons of the NYEP while it rolled out the Youth in Agriculture Programme.

"As much as possible we urge government to avoid the wastage that was associated with the NYEP. The Youth in Agriculture Programme should not become a source of employment for party cronies, but a programme that genuinely tackles our agricultural problems as well as youth unemployment," he said.

Besides, government must take steps to establish a linkage between the NYEP and the Youth in Agriculture Programme as the two initiatives target the youth as beneficiaries. Dr Osafo described the Youth in Agriculture programme as timely since the agricultural sector will not be sacrificed for oil production.

While commending government for its good intentions, he asked the Executive to take a bold step to adopt the African Youth Charter of the African Union, the continental blueprint for youth development. Dr Osafo said not signing on to the charter did not augur well for the country's status, especially when most of the intervention recommended in the Charter were already being implemented by government.