The National Lottery Authority (NLA) has presented a cheque of Ghc10,000,000.00 to the Ministry of Finance as their contribution to the YouStart programme to tackle the high youth unemployment in the country.
The cheque was presented by His Eminence, Torgbui Francis Nyonyo, a member of the Counsel of State representing the Volta Region and the Board Chairman of the National Lottery Authority.
The Council of State member noted that, the time had come for all well-meaning Ghanaians and institutions to support the Government to develop the economy.
He revealed that, such a laudable Youstart programme which was targeted at changing the mindset of the Ghanaian youth from job seeking to job creation needed to be support by all, hence, the support from the Authority.
He stated that the idea of a Ghana Beyond Aid may be realized through government initiatives and programmes such as Youstart. He emphasized that by fostering the enabling conditions for entrepreneurship to thrive, most Ghanaians will be gainfully employed, pay taxes, and contribute to the economy’s development.
Receiving the cheque on behalf of Government, the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta commended the leadership of the National Lottery Authority for showing support to government at such a time and called on other institutions to emulate the kind gesture of the National Lottery Authority.
He said the Youstart programme as stated in the 2022 Annual Budget Statement was expected to create one million jobs using seed capital of GHC 1 billion and that beneficiaries would be equipped with training to equip them with skills development, entrepreneurial support, and business advisory service provision.
He regretted that situation where some Junior and Senior High School graduates were left behind because they could not further their education due to financial constraints and other factors and gave the assurance that, the Youstart programme was carefully designed to cater for such individuals and others with passion for entrepreneurship.
Mr. Ofori-Atta used the opportunity to appeal to Ghanaians to support the E-Levy as it would afford the Government enough fiscal space to develop the economy.
The short ceremony was attended by Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance, Charles Adu Boahen, a deputy Minister for Finance, John Ampontuah Kumah, Board Chairman of National Lottery Authority, His Eminence, Torgbui Francis Nyonyo Director General of National Lottery Authority, Mr. Samuel Awuku, Officials of both the Ministry of Finance and the National Lottery Authority.
