Mahama urges Ghana to train technicians to curb unemployment
President John Dramani Mahama warned on Saturday, Dec 6, that Ghana is slipping into structural unemployment because industry cannot find the technicians it needs.
Speaking at the Doha Forum on Economic Empowerment in Africa – Pathway to Inclusive Prosperity – Mahama said universities are churning out large numbers of graduates in fields that do not match the current job market.
“If you go and speak to captains of industry in Ghana, they are looking for middle‑level technicians, more than professors and other high academic laurels,” Mahama told the panel.
He added, “We are not training them in sufficient numbers for the world of work. There are jobs looking for technicians, and yet you are producing more business administration graduates, more marketing graduates, more graduates in the humanities.”
The former president explained that this skills mismatch leaves many vacancies unfilled and creates what he termed structural unemployment – a situation where jobs exist but the required skills are scarce.
Mahama pointed to the National Apprenticeship Programme (NAP), launched in April, as a step toward redressing the gap. The programme offers practical training in carpentry, plumbing, auto‑mechanics, agro‑processing, tailoring and electrical work, targeting ten thousand apprentices across all 261 districts with plans to scale to one‑hundred thousand annually, including reserved slots for women and persons with disabilities.
He also stressed the need to prepare Ghana’s youth for the digital economy. “The information we have is that by 2030 there will be 230 million digital jobs in Africa. We have to equip our young people with the skills to be able to take advantage of that,” Mahama said.
Warning of social risks for unskilled youth, he warned, “We have so many young people ready to be hired, to be rented by bad guys, the drug people, the terrorists, and all these criminals.”
Mahama concluded that stronger technical, vocational and digital training is essential for Ghana to fill existing jobs, curb youth vulnerability and build stable livelihoods.
Image Source: MYJOYONLINE
