Accra, Sept. 13, GNA - The Coca Cola Bottling Company of Ghana has, this year, trained 85 National Service Personnel under its Entrepreneurship Skills Programme in working with the company and has employed 15 of them who passed out under the "Coca Cola Sales and Entrepreneurship Programme."

They were the first batch to graduate under the Coca Cola programme.

Speaking at their graduation ceremony on Tuesday, Nana Akomea, Minister of Manpower, Youth and Employment said Government would make the study of entrepreneurship part of the syllabus of all public universities.

He said the move would sharpen the skills of graduates on how to create jobs for themselves and to enable them to be competitive on the job market. Nana Akomea said the sustenance of the programme by Coca Cola depended on the output of the graduates on the job market. He said government, under the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) hoped to train about 20,000 people by the end of this year under the Community Protection Module to assist the police in their work. He said government in its efforts to solve the shortage of teachers in the rural areas; had employed about 30,000 people who would assist teachers in deprived areas under the Teaching Assistance Module of the NYEP.

"All these indicate the preparedness of the government in solving the unemployment problem of the youth". Ms. Elizabeth Ohene, Minister of State In-Charge of Education urged the graduates not to underrate any job but to make the very best out of them since most successful businesses once had humble beginnings. "Do not tie yourselves down on the broadways that you are walking, do new things, learn new skills and be a little more adventurous", the Minister said.

She called on corporate bodies to join hands with Coca Cola to make the programme big and get more graduates prepared for the job market. Mr. Segun Ogunsanya, General Manager, Coca Cola Bottling Company of Ghana advised the graduates not to rest on their oars but to seek more knowledge since that would play a major role in their quest for greater height.

"Dream big and aspire to be great, knowledge is weightless; it does not weigh you down in any way, so go for it", he said.