He said the youth held the key to the country’s development, hence the need for them to be patriotic in their endeavour to meet their personal aspirations.

"Those are the values that will differentiate you and set you apart from others and set you and our nation on the path of greatness," he said.

The Chief Justice was speaking at this year's Chief Justice's mentoring programme held in Accra yesterday.

Programme

The Chief Justice Mentoring Programme is designed to inspire young people to take up service to the nation.

It brought together students from junior high and senior high schools to inspire them to pick up the study of law.

Organised under the auspices of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), this year’s event was on the theme: “I pledge myself to the service of Ghana".

This year’s event brought together students from Amasaman SHS, Frafraha Community SHS, Al-Basar SHS, Adjen Kotoku SHS and Kwabenya SHS.

Others were pupils from Morning Star School, Achimota JHS, Martyrs of Uganda JHS, EP Church School, the School for the Blind, Akropong and some kayayei.

The students toured the various courts to understand the court structure and how they operate.

As part of the event, two Justices of the Court of Appeal, Justice Eric Kyei Baffour and Justice Georgina Mensah Datsa; the Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Kathleen Addy; the Director of the Ghana School of Law, Yaw Oppong, and the President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Yaw Acheampong Boafo, took turns to address the students.

They all recalled the challenges they endured when they were growing up in their bid to climb up the academic ladder.

They urged the students at the event not to pay attention to the present difficulties they might have faced, but to keep their eyes on the bigger picture and on the prize.

Joint effort

Justice Yeboah urged the students to put in a joint effort to build themselves through positive attitudes, and that believing in themselves would ultimately help build the nation.

“A nation’s greatness is collected as a sum of the individual efforts of its citizens, wherever and however they may apply themselves," Justice Anin Yeboah added.

He stressed the need for the students to work to retain the country’s values, maintain its focus and to achieve its ultimate goals.

New challenge

In a speech read on her behalf, the First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo, urged the students to be committed to excellence in the pursuit of their aspirations.

She further urged them not to be discouraged by the country’s challenges but to envision a future that would help them take up those challenges and make the life of the citizenry better.

A Deputy Minister of Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, urged the students to put service to the nation first, irrespective of their career path.

The Country Representative of the UNFPA, Barnaba Yisa, indicated that the UNFPA would continue to facilitate the innovative approach, which reached out to the poor and vulnerable people, particularly, girls out of school, who otherwise, could not have been privileged to be part of the Chief Justice Mentoring Programme.
For her part, Ms Addy urged the students to leverage social media to build their capacity.