Pius Enam Hadzide, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Young Authority (NYA), believes that the era from 2017 to now is the ideal time for the country's youth.
This, he claims, is owing to a number of government intervention programs, such as Free SHS and NABCo, that have been put in place to help the youth.
Mr. Enam Hadzide noted in an interview with Raymond Acquah on Upfront on Thursday that the government's job creation program, NABCo, and Free SHS had significantly addressed the country's youth employment and secondary education shortfalls.
"It has been one of the most great and best periods to be a youth in Ghana, because, for example, from education to creating a specific context, it has been one of the most fantastic and best times to be a youth in Ghana."
Today, thanks to Free SHS, no eager and able young person is left behind; at the very least, if this trend continues for the next 15 to 20 years, we will have a generation with a basic level of secondary education, which can only be a good thing for us.
"For example, we enter the era of employment creation; we were in this country; we are aware of the Association of Unemployed Graduates...
We have developed vehicles to absorb this backlog of unemployment in the last four years, such as NABCo," he stated.
According to him, the government's 1D1F and Planting for Food and Jobs programs have also aided in lowering the country's unemployment rate.
The 1D1F provides a clear potential for recruitment. Many young folks are getting the job. Furthermore, under the 1D1F, factories have been set aside for young entrepreneurs. Young adults under the age of 35 own about 45 of the factories. Some of them [factories] are still under development, while others are already active," he noted.
However, John Dumelo, a member of the opposition NDC, feels Mr. Enam Hadzide's claims do not reflect reality on the ground.
"This is actually the worst time to be a youth in this country," he claimed. He is, after all, speaking on behalf of the administration.