The National Democratic Congress (NDC) aims to allocate $3 billion towards expanding digital employment opportunities for young people through its One Million Coders Programme, suggested by former President John Dramani Mahama.
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As the Guest Speaker for the lecture organized by the Christian Service University as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations in Kumasi, the former president remarked: “The One Million Coders Programme will be aimed at creating additional digital jobs for our youth and we intend to spend $3 billion investments in Information and Communication Technology (ICT).”
The former President emphasized that sound and prudent economic management, grounded in extensive governance and economic reforms, would flourish in Ghana under the new leadership of the NDC.
He stated that his top priority would be stabilizing the economy, stopping the depreciation of the cedi, and restoring its value relative to other currencies.
“Our economic policy would be geared towards sustainable growth with an equitable distribution of the proceeds of growth amongst our citizens,” he assured.
He further indicated that “The basic structure of our economy is reliant on raw material export with little or no value addition is no longer tenable.”
He emphasized that significant growth and wealth creation could not be achieved, which would result in the government failing to meet the needs of the people if the situation persisted.
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Mr. Mahama mentioned that the upcoming NDC government would focus on revitalizing the country’s traditional export sector to its former prominence. He added that providing incentives for cocoa farmers to boost exports and revitalizing the sector to capitalize on improved world market prices would also be a priority for the NDC.
“We will also increase production in our oil and gas sector.
The last eight years have been wasted without one single oil well brought on stream,” he bemoaned.
He mentioned that the oil and gas sector was in a transitional phase as the world moved towards green energy. He pointed out that while every country with oil was rushing to extract it, Ghana had spent eight years without developing additional wells.
“If we don’t bring these producers back on stream and take advantage of our oil and gas sector, the world would make the transition, and our gas and oil will become stranded assets,” he cautioned.
Mahama assured that his government would aim to exert more control over Ghana’s natural resources and move towards processing these resources locally. He also emphasized attracting investments into sectors like agriculture, industry, and agribusiness.
“This will increase our export potentials and bring in foreign exchange so that it can lead to a stable currency,” he opined.
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