<<Print>>

President John Dramani Mahama on Saturday said much as government would not renege on its mandate to create jobs, tertiary institution graduates should also initiate entrepreneurial skills that could make them self-reliant and major employers.

He said with the rising graduate population in Ghana and the entire world, it was becoming extremely difficult for government alone to absorb them and, therefore, developing enterpreneurial skills would help in reducing the high incidence of unemployment.

President Mahama said this when he addressed the 16th and 17th graduation ceremony of 354 students of the All Nations University College, a private university in Koforidua, on the theme:"The Growth and Development of Private Universities, and the Impact on the Socio-economic Development of Ghana."

The President said government's determination to making Ghana the education hub in the West African sub-region was manifesting in the numerous infrastructural projects throughout the country.

He said more than 15,000 foreigners were schooling in Ghanaian tertiary institutions and gave the assurance that the provision of more facilities would spur more foreigners to come to Ghana.

President Mahama commended the university for taking the bold initiative of establishing the first private university in Ghana giving courage to others to follow up in that direction.

"Your innovation in science and technology, engineering, electronic, oil and gas and communication engineering are very commendable," he said.

Dr Samuel Donkor, President and Founder of the university, appealed to President Mahama for the Government to grant them a Presidential Charter to enable them to be independent in their academic activities.
That, he said, would enable the university to admit and train more students.

Dr Donkor said his outfit would continue to build on the foundation by integrating the values of the mission statement and provide cutting edge quality higher education in an increasingly competitive global dynamic society.

He challenged Africans in the Diaspora, especially in North America, to support the development of the continent by investing in human resource development through quality higher education.