Wa, Sept. 20, GNA - About 4,194 unemployed youth the Upper West Region have so far been found jobs in agriculture, teaching and auxiliary nursing under the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP). Out of the number, 2,068 have been engaged in crop and livestock farming and 1,482 others have been employed as pupil teachers with 644 others engaged as auxiliary nurses.

Mr Mohamed Abdulai Sidique, Regional Liaison Officer of NYEP, announced this when he briefed the newly inaugurated eight-member Regional Implementation Taskforce of NYEP for the Upper West Region at Wa. The Taskforce is under the chairmanship of the Regional Minister, Mr Ambrose Dery.

Mr Sidique said while those engaged as pupil teachers would earn a monthly salary of 700,000 cedis, those who opted for farming had a hectare ploughed for each of them and provided with seedlings. He said those selected for auxiliary nursing would be trained by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) for between six months and two years in Wa.

Inaugurating the Taskforce, Mr Dery said the programme was good for the country's youth and urged them to take full advantage of the programme and also cautioned the Taskforce to ensure that the programme achieved its set targets and goals in the Region. He, therefore, urged the members to effectively monitor and evaluate NYEP's programmes in all the districts to ensure maximum success.

The Regional Minister advised the Taskforce to make sure that resources meant for distribution under the programme were fairly distributed to beneficiaries.

Other members of the Taskforce included the Regional Director of Education; Regional Director of Ghana Health Service and Regional Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.