The policy was a major campaign policy in the New Patriotic Party manifesto aimed at supporting all-season smallholder farming in every part of the country.
The Vice-President of the Republic, Dr Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, disclosed this at the 69th Annual New Year School and Conference yesterday.
According to him, the Northern Development Authority will, in the course of the week, begin the processes for procurement for the projects.
Acknowledging the importance of the theme, the Vice-President noted that the high unemployment rate is the key and most pressing issue of our time, and the government is putting in place measures to deal with it.
According to him, unemployment is a national security issue, assuring the government will not look on for it to escalate into a time bomb.
“This is why the President has placed job creation as the number one priority of government. It goes without saying, however, that the government’s role is to put in place the enabling environment for the private sector to drive job creation,” Vice-President Bawumia stated.
This year’s New Year School and Conference is on the theme ‘Job Creation for Accelerated National Development: The Role of the Private Sector’.
The Vice-President intimated that solving the high unemployment rate in the country remains government’s top priority.
According to him, unemployment is a national security issue, the reason why the President has placed job creation as the number one priority of government.
“It goes without saying, however, that the government’s role is to put in place the enabling environment for the private sector to drive job creation,” he noted.
Dr Bawumia further noted the country needs a paradigm shift in its efforts to set the country on the path of prosperity and create the needed jobs for the citizenry.
He made reference to other countries such as Malaysia and others that made conscious efforts to develop their countries.
“After 60 years of independence, it is clear that we have to do things differently because you cannot do the same things and expect different results. Countries such as China, South Korea, Malaysia, UAE have shown that transformation can be achieved in one generation and, therefore, it is possible for Ghana to do same,” he said.
Govt hits historic fiscal deficit target
The Vice-President further noted that government, under President Akufo-Addo, has chalked a historic feat in the management of the Ghanaian economy by achieving its fiscal deficit target in 2017.
According to him, government created fiscal space by ensuring prudent fiscal management and realigning expenditures to government priorities.
According to him, the government stayed current and focused on payments to statutory funds such as GETFund, NHIS, DACF, SSNIT and Road Fund in 2017 while paying arrears inherited from the previous Mahama administration.
He added that the government also validated arrears inherited for the statutory funds, Capex, compensation, and goods and services at the end of 2016, which amounted to GH¢3.1 billion. About two-thirds of the total arrears was statutory, adding that out of the total, the government has paid GH¢1.45 billion in 2017.
“In fact, in just one year, we have paid almost half of the arrears accumulated by the NDC government while staying current on existing obligations,” Dr Bawumia emphasised.
(Selorm) | 
(Nana Kwesi)