As part of National Youth Month, National Youth Authority and its partners will meticulously tackle the myriad of challenges that the youth of this country face in the pursuit of their needs, aspirations, and dreams – be it the matter of unemployment or social vices such as substance abuse and crime.

This year’s National Youth Month themed: “Breaking Barriers: Creating a Stronger Youth Development Ecosystem” will also create an essential platform to facilitate discussions about opportunities, policies, and initiatives that will enable youth to thrive and actively engage in matters of national interest.

Addressing Journalists, at the media launch in Accra, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Youth Authority (NYA), Pius Enam Hadzide explained that the National Youth Month celebration isn’t only about festivities, but the creation of an essential platform to facilitate discussions about challenges faced by the youth in the pursuit of their needs, aspirations and dreams.

Adding that the celebration also seeks to provide the youth with mentorship, partnership opportunities, and the requisite resources to flourish and lead the country towards a brighter future.

He noted that this year, the Authority has set out to fully embrace and appreciate the youth of the country as the driving force of progress whose passion, innovation, and resilience shape the trajectory of society.

“We have scheduled a series of dialogues and initiatives to take place throughout the entire month, some of which have already been effectuated,” he said.

Pius Enam Hadzide added that the Authority on August 2, held a ‘Start Right’ Youth Seminar, in collaboration with YFM aimed at promoting youth empowerment, mentorship, entrepreneurship, community engagement, and career development.

According to him, the platform facilitated networking and knowledge sharing, as achievers in various fields were given the opportunity to share their experiences with the youth and to inspire them to succeed.

Stressing that as part of the celebration a joint sitting of the Northern and Upper West Regional Youth Parliament on the motion “A Year of the Implementation of National Youth Policy; Successes, Challenges, and Way Forward was held on August 4, in Tamale.

He said the sitting offered youth parliamentarians a platform to deliberate on the progress of implementation of the National Youth Policy and announced that plans are underway to host a larger National Youth Parliament in the precinct of the Parliament House during recess.

“Multi-Stakeholders Dialogue, which comprises consultative meetings with government agencies, development partners, civil society organizations, and private sector industries. This will facilitate the building of synergies and linkages between key stakeholders for collaboration toward addressing the needs of young people in Ghana.

During this event, which comes off on August 22nd and 23rd, a multi-stakeholder action plan for youth development will be put together,” he added.

The CEO stated that a National Youth Conference will culminate the Youth Month Celebration at the University of Ghana, Legon from August 31 to September 3 under the theme ‘Reformed Youth, Reformed Ghana’.

He noted that the conference will be a collaborative effort between the National Youth Authority and the International Youth Fellowship (IYF) which will bring together 2000 young people from across the country to participate in various youth empowerment activities.

Gaming Tax

Touching on the 10 percent withholding tax on all gross gaming winnings, called on the public to embrace the move taken by the government by taking a holistic view of the general impact it will create and not only its economic factors.

According to him, the NYA has come to a firm conclusion that it is a healthy one that is necessary for consensus building on matters of national discourse.
Adding that the NYA’s position is not driven purely by economic considerations, but rather by the negative impact the phenomenon continues to have on the youth of the country.

“The lure of ‘get rich quick’ at the expense of hard work, and commitment to duty, promotes laziness among those indulging in gambling.

Many young people now spend more time at these betting centres, at the cost of their books and if immediate steps such as the one just taken by the government are not taken, it will impinge on their education, thereby derailing the future of these young ones and the development of the country in general,” he pointed out.

Stressing that the increasing cases of social vices can also be attributed to the obsession the young ones have developed for betting and many other forms of gambling in general.

However, he, therefore, advised the youth to be circumspect in their choice of words and actions in relation to the 10 percent withholding tax on all gross gaming winnings.

The Country Director of International Youth Fellowship, Rev. David OH also reaffirmed IYF’s commitment to working closely with NYA to raise competent youth will stand tall to help address global challenges.

Adding that the youth conference will intensify Leadership programs, Mind Education, Academic, and World Cultural Dance performance for the attendees.