One of Ghana’s best-known Catholic priests, Msgr. Roger Aboteyuure, has asked Ghanaians searching for examples of “useless graduates” to look no further than successful degree holders who have turned their backs on their deprived hometowns.

The widely travelled preacher, quite upset over the pitiable conditions in which some communities in the Upper East region have been caged for ages, is of a strong conviction the prevailing circumstances would have been less distressing if accomplished natives had made good use of their schooling to wipe at least a tear in their individual communities.

“University is to prepare you to render services to your people. The moment you don’t do that, you are a useless graduate and you are a frustrated graduate,” he said with a passionate tone, stressing the last syllable of the word ‘useless’.

He registered the blunt remarks in the Nabdam District during the launching of two storybooks written by Dr. Vida Nyagre Yakong, a native of the area and senior lecturer at the Tamale Campus of the University for Development Studies (UDS). She composed and published the stories in consultation with some natives of Nabdam for basic schools in the district. It is the latest intervention the lecturer, who is also a politician, has initiated among several charities she had secured particularly for helpless individuals and groups in the area.

“Who cares whether you have PhD? I don’t care. I care [about] the one who gives water to the people, the one who builds a clinic for the people [and] the one who wants to help the people to go ahead. Your [education] is not to make you selfish but to empower you to render effective service to your people and to humanity.

“Education doesn’t make you different; it only empowers you. You are still a member of your birthplace. I’m not saying you should go home. But wherever you are, you can always help your people from there in many ways,” Msgr. Aboteyuure pointed out.