Tamale, Ghana – As part of his 120-day social contract with the people of Ghana, President John Dramani Mahama has officially launched the National Apprenticeship Programme in Tamale on Wednesday, April 30, 2025.
The programme, a key pillar of the government’s broader jobs and skills agenda, aims to significantly reduce youth unemployment by eliminating the financial barriers to skills acquisition in the informal technical and vocational sectors.
Speaking at the launch, held at the Multipurpose Auditorium of the University for Development Studies (UDS) in Tamale, President Mahama emphasized the urgent need to invest in practical training for young people, especially in underserved communities.
Under the initiative, the government will partner with master craftsmen and women across the country, providing them with financial support to take on apprentices. In addition to receiving free training, the apprentices will be paid monthly allowances to help them meet their basic needs during the training period.
The programme is expected to create thousands of skilled artisans in fields such as carpentry, plumbing, welding, tailoring, auto mechanics, hairdressing, and other in demand trades aligning with national development goals and the future needs of the job market.
President Mahama’s full speech delivered at the event is provided below word by word:
I was a student in Commonwealth Hall in Lagon, so I know that when the choir starts moving it’s like a train. The brake does not stop the train at once, it has to reach the station before it stops. Thank you very much my children, thank you very much.
As was said by our brother Ayariga(Osman Ayariga), you can fill the form online. If you are not digitally competent, you can go to the District Assembly office and they’ll give you the form free of charge and they’ll help you to fill it out. Even if you have little formal education, you still qualify to be in the National Apprenticeship Program.
So whatever you want to learn, whatever skill you want to learn, if you want to be a seamstress, a mechanic, you still qualify to be in the National Apprenticeship Program.
Our father, the *Nantonaa, representing Yaa Naa and chairman of this event, our chiefs and traditional leaders, members of the Council of State, our national chairman of the NDC party, our ministers of state, our members of parliament, our metropolitan municipal and district chief executives, senior government officials, chief executive officer of the National Youth Authority, the clergy and the regional chief imam, our master craftsmen and prospective apprentices, youth groups and students, friends from the media, ladies and gentlemen.
Today marks a transformative milestone in our collective journey towards building a prosperous Ghana that works for all. I’m honored to stand before you at the launch of the National Apprenticeship Program (NAP), under the theme Skills for Prosperity, Empowering Ghana’s Future.
This initiative is a testament to our unwavering commitment to investing in the most critical asset of our nation and that is our youth.
It also reaffirms the pledge contained in the National Democratic Congress Manifesto of 2024 to equip young people with relevant marketable skills that meet the demands of the 21st century job market.
The challenge we face today is a growing youth population with limited skills but Ghana is blessed with a vibrant and youthful population, yet too many of our young citizens find themselves battling unemployment and underemployment.
Recent data from the Ghana statistical service reveals that the youth unemployment rate stands at 12.6 percent for those aged between 15 to 35 years with an alarming 29 percent of young people neither engaged in education, in employment or in training.
These figures are not just statistics, they represent real lives of our children. They represent the dreams deferred of our young people and they represent the potential of our young people that remains unrealized. We cannot and will not stand by while our young people are denied the opportunities they deserve to thrive.
In our 2024 People’s Manifesto, we made a bold and deliberate commitment and I quote, we said we will create one million jobs for the young people particularly in agriculture, manufacturing, ICT and vocational skills.
The National Apprenticeship Program is a major step towards fulfilling that promise. Through this initiative we seek to provide structured high quality vocational training to over 500,000 young people.
Young Ghanaians over the next five years will start with an initial cohort of 10,000 apprentices nationwide. The National Apprenticeship Program will deliver comprehensive training in a wide range of sectors. We have agriculture and agro-processing and so if you want to go into agriculture and agro-processing, you can enroll as an apprentice.
We’ll teach you fish farming, we’ll teach you poultry keeping and how to raise chickens. We’ll teach you beekeeping so that you can produce honey for the market. We’ll teach you food preservation so that you can process food for the market.
If you want to become or go into craftsmanship, we have various models. We have masonry, we have carpentry, we have plumbing, we have electrical works and so you can become an electrical technician.
In the traditional crafts, we have pottery making, how to make pots, we have bead making, how to make beads, we have weaving, we have leather work and fashion and beauty, we have dress making, we have hair dressing, we have how to do makeup, how to paint the face, makeup.
Under manufacturing, we have welding, we have furniture making and we even have basic robotics. Under renewable energy, we can teach you to become a solar technician and so you can install solar power in people’s homes. We will teach you biogas technology, we’ll teach you how to make energy more efficient.
Under hospitality and tourism, we’ll teach you culinary arts, culinary arts is like catering, how to cook, events management and ecotourism, how to be a tourist guide.
Under the automotive industry, we’ll teach you how to become an auto mechanic, to repair engines, electrical vehicle servicing and how to use computer to maintain and service vehicles.
Under ICT and digital service, we’ll teach you software development, data analysis and graphic design.
My children, my students, my youth. Now, this part is interesting. Each apprentice will receive a stipend, an allowance for transport.
You receive an allowance so that you can use it to take ‘Mahama cambuu’ to work. (8:37) You will also receive starter tool kits, so if you want to become a seamstress, you’ll get your your pair of scissors, your tape, your needles and all the things that you need to start how to work.
At the end of the program, you’ll be given a certificate and that certificate shows that you are professionally qualified in the trade that you went to learn and you can use that certificate if you want to find a job or go into self-employment.
The National Apprenticeship Program is designed to be inclusive and we have said that at least 45 percent of the apprentice trainees must be women or girls are girl children. We’ve also said that at least five percent of the apprentice trainees must be persons living with disability. Special attention will be given to marginalized and vulnerable groups across the country.
We’re building an apprenticeship system that will leave no one behind. The National Apprenticeship Program will adopt a dual apprenticeship mode. 30 percent of the training will be classroom-based training.
You will learn the theoretical training to become professional in the skill you have chosen. So 30 percent will be classwork and 70 percent will be practical hands-on training with certified master craftsmen and industry partners. With the classroom training, don’t worry if you don’t have much formal education because you will also be taught in the language that you understand.
Training will range from short-term modules, that is two to four months, to long-term programs. The long-term programs will be between 12 months and 18 months depending on the trade and the skill level that you have applied for. Phase one, which starts in 2025, will focus on enrolling 10,000 apprentices from all the districts of Ghana.
From 2026 onward, we intend to scale up to 100,000 youth trained annually. Application forms will be available at all metropolitan, municipal, and district assemblies. Online through the National Youth Authority portal starting in May.
That’s next month. So next month, the online portal will be on and then you can start to apply. The program will be coordinated by the Ministry of Youth Development and Empowerment in collaboration with the National Youth Authority, with the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Employment and Labor Relations, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Agribusiness, and other industry players, civil society organizations, and local government authorities.
Ladies and gentlemen, and this is important, full funding of this program has been made with the allocation of 300 million Ghana cedis in the 2025 budget by the Honorable Minister of Finance. And so this is not going to be like some programs where government rushes and starts it and there are no resources to fund it. With this one, the Minister of Finance has allocated 300 million Ghana cedis for 2025 to start the program.
And so the apprenticeship program is projected to achieve the training of over 500,000 young people within the next five years. A 60% employment or self-employment rate among the graduates. An average 40% increase in incomes for beneficiaries and creation of more than 25,000 new small businesses over the next five years.
A skilled workforce contributing significantly to national industrialization, enhanced empowerment and social inclusion, especially for vulnerable people. I wish to sincerely acknowledge the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa and all our development partners for their steadfast support in advancing youth empowerment through skills development.
Your contributions have been invaluable in the design and rollout of initiatives such as the National Apprenticeship Program. And we look forward to continued collaboration as we build the Ghana we all want together.
In conclusion, today we’re not just launching a program, we’re igniting a revolution of skills, dreams and hope. We’re charting a bold path towards a future where every young Ghanaian has the tools and opportunities to succeed.
Let us rally around this program and I call on government agencies, the private sector, civil society organizations, traditional rulers and all stakeholders to lend their unwavering support to the success of the National Apprenticeship Program. After all, a happy youth makes a happy nation. Together, let us forge a future where no Ghanaian will be left behind.
On this note, it is my honor and privilege to invite the Minister and his colleagues to join me to unveil the logo and officially launch the National Apprenticeship Program. I thank you. May God bless our nation, Ghana.
Story by: Emmanuel Romeo Tetteh(#RomeoWrites
) / Ahotoronline.com | Ghana 
