‘Daddy, we are on the streets because the ‘big men’ have failed us’
This was the lamentation of a street hawker whose ordeal inspired Colonel Cornelius B. Oddoye, a seasoned Military Officer to chronicle the causes, impact, and dangers of Ghana’s unemployment woes in a bid to raise awareness about the phenomenon and proffer workable solutions.
Col. Oddoye, a former Military Advisor at the Ghana Permanent Mission to the UN, identifies the rising rate of unemployment as a national security threat and calls for new approaches to tackling the menace head-on.
In two new books: ‘Arrested Dreams: Unemployment in Ghana,’ and ‘Living the Dream: Countering Unemployment in Ghana,’ the author provides a guide to tackle unemployment holistically, in keeping with best practices from around the world.
In the first book, Arrested Dreams: Unemployment in Ghana, Col. Oddoye contextualises the causes of Ghana’s unemployment situation, and argues that ‘one cannot address the problem unless the very nature of the problem is p
roperly diagnosed and understood.’
The second book: ‘Living the Dream: Countering Unemployment in Ghana,’ Which is a sequel to the former, explores novel approaches to dealing with unemployment and encourages public-sector-led job creation and international best practices.
Col. Oddoye told the Ghana News Agency that the purpose of the book was to highlight the problem of unemployment and the socially underprivileged and bring it to the fore of national discourse.
He said the two books sought to shape the agenda for future economic development and offer alternative solutions to job creation and poverty reduction.
‘We have done all the wrong things in the past. We have followed wrong paradigms and accepted false doctrines and counsel from people who don’t mean well.
‘We should come together as a people and tackle the issues. We have the men and the brain power to lift ourselves from this poverty quagmire to a future of prosperity,’ Col. Oddoye said.
Col. Oddoye advised young graduates to take their family
businesses seriously and explore innovative ways to expand the clientele of such businesses to ensure sustainable employment.
The 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC) conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) indicates that more than 1.55 million people or 13.4 per cent of Ghana’s economically active population are out of work – as compared to the 5.3 per cent jobless rate recorded in the 2010 census.
The World Bank in 2016 projected that Ghana would have to create at least 300,000 new jobs annually to absorb the increasing number of unemployed people given the country’s growing youth population.
Reacting to the book, Reverend Dr. Frederick Deegbe, a Former Senior Pastor at Calvary Baptist Church, described the author as a ‘problem solver’ and commended him for highlighting the challenges of the less privileged in society.
He said unemployment should be a national emergency and appealed to policymakers to tap into the ideas proposed by Col. Oddoye to tackle the problem.
Source: Ghana News Age
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