2013 Oguaa Fetu Afahye launched
The Central Regional Minister, Mr. Samuel Sarpong has advised the youth in the region to seize available opportunities to upgrade their knowledge and skills to meet the required standards for job placement.
He said Government was putting in place the necessary structures to create the congenial socio-economic environment for individuals to develop their potentials and also to increase private sector participation in job creation and economic development.
Mr. Sarpong was speaking at the weekend when he launched the Oguaa Fetu-Afahye (festival) of the chiefs and people of Cape Coast to be celebrated in August through to the first week of September this year.
It will be on the theme: “Harnessing the Human Resource Potential of Cape Coast Youth in Oguaa State for Effective Development”.
He asked chiefs and the people of Oguaa, particularly the youth to strive hard to preserve the glamorous cultural heritage of the town for future generation.
He said surviving as an individual and a nation depended on acquiring the requisite skills and knowledge, which would enable them to keep pace with the rest of the world.
The festival is a time for homecoming for families to unite with their members, who have traveled far and near to share ideas, iron out family differences and instill traditional values in the younger generation and to plan for a better future.
The Minister advised the people to showcase their tourism potentials to the outside world during the festival, saying Cape Coast “is a famous town in Ghana and beyond owing to its strategic position as a coast land, the colonial capital of the then Gold Coast, the tourism heartbeat of Ghana and the citadel of education.”
Dr. David Wellington Essaw, a lecturer at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Cape Coast, noted that people now had little or no time to develop themselves.
“People are not diligent and committed to their dreams” he declared, adding that no matter the effort played by all stakeholders, the youth had the responsibility to be skillfully empowered in order to contribute to local level development.
“Empowerment is about choice and that before any individual could choose anything, he must identify his options and decide what he really want to do,” he added.
He said the kind of company one associated with determined his future and therefore when an individual kept wrong company, he tended to lose his effectiveness and perspectives in life.
He urged the youth to do something for themselves and stop over depending on the riches of their parents and family members.
Source: GNA