An economist and a professor of finance at the University of Ghana Business, Godfred Bokpin has bemoaned the unemployment rate among Ghanaian youth particularly graduates of the various tertiary institutions.
According to him, unemployment rate among graduates especially university graduates are alarming as there are no employment opportunities in the country.
Prof. Godfred Bokpin noted that most of the youth who graduated from the tertiary level spend their youthful time endlessly searching for jobs which do not exist regardless of the course they studied.
This, he said, should be a matter of concern to decision makers and thus, urged them to take appropriate steps to address the situation.
“The easiest way to become unemployed today is to go to the university. Because unemployment is high among university graduates between 22 to 29 years. They are spending their productive time/youth looking for jobs that do not exist even if they study employment in the university. These are the issues that I believe should engage our attention. We can do far better,” he stated in an interview on Accra-based Joy FM.
Prof. Godfred Bokpin said this while reacting to the assertion by Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia that the NPP’s government has managed the economy of Ghana better than the erstwhile NDC’s government.
Dr. Bawumia who was speaking at a regional seminar of the Tertiary Students Confederacy of the NPP (TESCON), said although the country’s debt levels have increased astronomically, the Akufo-Addo’s government has managed the economy better than the previous government reason variables such as inflation, exchange rate depreciation, GDP growth and interest rate have performed incredibly well over the years.
But the university lecturer argued that the government should focus its attention on improving the economic prospects of the country so as to create jobs and better the living conditions of Ghanaians rather comparing its track record with the previous government.
While admitting that the current government has performed better in terms macro of economic indicators, Prof. Bokpin contended that the current administration has what it takes to do more than what it has done and that Ghanaians expect much more from it reason they voted for it hence, it should resist from using the performance of the previous administration as yardstick to measure its achievements.
He wants the government to aggressively tackle corruption as the canker is hindering the country’s efforts to generate revenue for the implementation of life-changing policies.
“How does this comparison help the youth particularly university graduates who are struggling to get jobs? How would this government compare even with our peers when it comes to inclusive growth, job creation? These are the issues. How about revenue generation to GDP ratio? Will we compare that to the NDC’s time or even compare that to our peers and Ghana’s own tax potentials? I think that it is easy to make that comparison because if you look at macro numbers, relatively, they’ve done better but they can do far better and the reason I’m saying so and why we must hold our government accountable is because Ghanaians voted for the NPP because they felt they could do better and NPP is in a position to do far better if we could tackle corruption aggressively in the same it appears. About 50 percent of leakages in our revenue envelop is as a result of corruption in this country” he pointed out.
