The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) in partnership with MTN Ghana on Wednesday held the maiden edition of Digital Youth Expo to expose the youth to the prospects of the internet.

Speaking on the theme “Empowering the Ghanaian Youth to Own the Digital Revolution”, in Accra, Mr Sulemana Braimah, Executive Director, MFWA, said the Digital Youth Expo was an initiative by the MFWA.

It is aimed at mobilizing, empowering and inspiring the youth to take advantage of the prospects the internet, data applications and mobile technology offers for self-development, business incubation and entrepreneurship.

He said the event which was carefully planned and begun with a seminar also formed part of the MFWA’s on-going Internet Freedom project that seeks to empower people through secure and affordable internet.

Mr Serame Taukobong, Chief Executive Officer, MTN Ghana, said MTN Ghana was supporting the Digital Youth Expo because of its commitment to delivering a bold new digital world to its customers while offering exceptional data services to its customers, especially the youth.

He said MTN Ghana Foundation also supported a social entrepreneurship programme aimed at identifying and empowering young Ghanaians with innovative digital solutions to help solve some of Ghana’s most pressing needs through its partnership with the Ghana Multi-media Incubator Centre, hence their collaboration with MFWA to achieve same goals and even more.

“The programme also falls in line with MTN’s digital agenda, MTN Ghana launched an Apps Challenge which seeks to support Ghanaians to develop relevant local apps for the Ghanaian market and embrace the digital world and currently, MTN Ghana is the first communication network to make Wikipedia free with the help of the Ministry of Education”, he said.

Mr Joseph Tetteh, Director of Information Technology, Ministry of Communication, lauded MFWA and MTN Ghana for their collaborative works that sought to empower the youth digitally.

He said the theme for the Expo was timely especially when Information Communication Technology (ICT) was an indispensable tool for the country’s development.

He appealed to the youth to take up the mantle of ICT with all seriousness as the government was doing everything possible to make it better for the country’s development in every aspect of human dealings positively.

“I assure youngsters of this country a bright future because government is doing all things possible to make ICT better and worthwhile”, Mr Tetteh said.

The event which was opened by Mr Tetteh came with some practical digital exhibitions.

Digital Youth Expo was supported by the Ministry of Communication, National Information Technology Agency, Chamber of Telecommunications and the Internet Society Ghana Chapter.

MFWA is the leading non-profit, independent press freedom and freedom of expression advocacy organization in West Africa.

Some participants, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency, expressed satisfaction about the Digital Youth Expo and called for more of such educative programmes to be inculcated in the school curriculum.