Rural urban drift is a problem of mindset

Mr Ransford Kwesi Nyarko, the District Chief Executive (DCE) of Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam, has expressed disquiet over the exodus of job-seeking youth in the district to urban centres for non-existent jobs.

Describing the situation as a mindset problem, he said most of the people were obsessed with landing formal jobs, instead of taking advantage of entrepreneurial opportunities provided by the Assembly.

“We all know that the formal sector cannot absorb all our people. So, what we also try to do is to provide the requisite skills such as beekeeping, soap making and gari processing needed for being an entrepreneur and we do that through the Business Advisory Centre, now Ghana Enterprises Agency.

“But it’s been a challenge because of the mindset. Everybody wants formal employment and so they would rather travel to the cities. I’m not happy about it,” he bemoaned.

He observed that most of the people who took the training seriously were doing well in snail rearing and honey making and gari processing and agencies like the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JiCA) were buying from them.

Mr Nyarko, therefore, appealed to the youth to look within the district for opportunities and stay back to develop the area.

The Assembly would intensify its entrepreneurial drive to train more people to achieve financial freedom and to boost the local economy.

“We will continue to take people through basic skill sets needed for getting themselves some income-generating activities,” he stressed.