Kumasi, Dec 11, GNA - Mr George Komla Yevu, the acting Director of the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI), has said a skilled workforce was crucial to the socio-economic development of the country. He has therefore stressed the need to equip the youth with skills to enhance their capabilities towards nation building. Mr Yevu said this in a speech read for him at the graduation of 104 students of the NVTI Business Centre in Kumasi at the weekend after a two-year training course.

He said the President's Golden Age Business could only be successful if the country could have professionals to see that vision through.

"We now live in a global village where all around us ways of doing things are changing and we dare not make the mistake of being left behind else we shall be judged by posterity". Mr Yevu appealed to the youth to take advantage of the facilities at the centre and enroll to help them acquire skills to enable them to be employed in future.

Mrs Florence Adufutse, the Manager of the Centre, said the centre offered courses in typing and stenography and that Information Technology (IT) has placed more responsibility on the centre to train more youth to become computer literate. She said the center, established in 1970 only 20 students, now has almost 200 students.

Mrs Aufutse said the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) had given notice of ejection to the centre to move from the premises located at Kyirapatre. She appealed to the NVTI, the Member of Parliament for Asokwa and other stakeholders involved in the land acquisition process to release land and funds to help relocate the centre.