Archbishop declares youth unemployment as alarming and worrisome

Most Reverend Philip Naameh, Metropolitan Archbishop of Tamale has described unemployment as an alarming phenomenon that needed concerted efforts between the church and government towards addressing it.

He called for a collaborative effort to reverse the phenomenon and said all stakeholders must think outside the box to find lasting solutions to avoid its accompanying vices.

He made the call at the opening of the Tamale Ecclesiastical Province Pastoral Conference (TEPPCON) Plenary Assembly at Damongo in the Savannah Region.

TEPPCON is a joint institution to coordinate varied pastoral, economic and socio-political concerns of five Dioceses of the Catholic Church; Tamale, Navrongo-Bolgatanga, Wa, Damongo, and Yendi.

The four-day event, being the 20th edition, was to harmonise approaches to pastoral care and to address critical issues affecting people in the province.

Participants included stakeholders from various fields to deliberate on the theme: “The Crisis of Education in Ghana: The Role of Government and Stakeholders”.

Most Reverend Naameh raised concerns over the ascendency of fraud and same sex marriage and called on party flagbearers to include strategies geared at addressing such menace in their manifestos.

He indicated that the issue of upcoming churches and prophets was a source of confusion to the youth, urging members of the Catholic Church to be circumspect in seeking help from such churches.

Mr Charles Abugre, former Chief Executive Officer of Savannah Accelerated Development Authority, speaking at the event, said crisis of the education sector was as result of the disconnect among the educational establishment, families and communities.

He said there was the need to re-order society’s priority to invest in children, especially in Northern Ghana to teach students social values of becoming useful to society.

He said “We must confront inflated, corrupt and opaque procurement in the public system. We must also reinstitute community volunteerism.”

Mr Saeed Muhazu Jibril, Savannah Regional Minister, commended TEPPCON for adopting a theme that underscored the shared responsibility in addressing challenges of the country.

He said the region had witnessed consistent improvement in the sector, adding there was need to do more in the areas of infrastructure, inadequate teachers among other notable challenges.