The Member of Parliament (MP) for Nadowli-Kaleo constituency of the Upper West Region, Anthony Sumah, has implemented a skills development and financial support programme for 155 tertiary students to aid in entrepreneurship and educational pursuits, with the aim of enhancing their capacities and employment prospects.
The beneficiaries of the various entrepreneurship programmes were provided with some capacity training while those in education were provided with aid to further their education.
The apprenticeship and entrepreneurial development programmes and Tertiary Education Student Support (TESS) fund forms part of the MP’s social intervention programmes in line with his campaign promise and vision in creating sustainable jobs for the teeming youth in the district and removing bottlenecks in the development of the human resources.
Mr. Antony Sumah, who launched the project with the seed capital of GH¢100,000, said the funds will be used in assisting the payment of fees for first-year students who meet a number of requirements.
He noted that the unemployment situation in the country is becoming a security threat and this encouraged him to avert the situation by empowering the youth and also paying the fees of well-deserving people in getting to the tertiary students.
“I will not be able to help every student getting into tertiary institutions, because you know that I do not have what it takes to do that but my focus is that we should able to assist those who are in need those who cannot on their own and we have done a lot so far. On this grounds I want to officially announce that my office is setting aside an amount of GH¢100,000 as seed money to start the fund,” he said.
The programme was implemented at Nadowli, the district capital under four modules. This saw 100 in tailoring and dressmaking, 33 in weaving, 7 in hairdressing, and 15 in welding and fabrication.
He provided the apprentices with 100 sewing machines with other tools to work and also promised to take the cost of the apprenticeship cost.
The District Chief Executive for Nadowli, Katherine T. Lankono commended the MP for the initiative and urged the beneficiaries to use the finance and training judiciously to achieve the purpose for which they were provided.
