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The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) says the apparent neglect of students and lack of commitment towards youth development by the present administration is shocking. To the student body, Ghana's former President, the late Prof "John Evans Atta Mills though was not a youthful President, he showed a great deal of commitment towards the development of student unions and other youth organizations" than "our youthful President His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama". In a statement signed by President of the Union Sammy Darkwa Binfoh to mark National Students Day, which was observed on Thursday, NUGS bemoaned government's persistent snub claiming they were not invited to the National Independence Day celebration on March 6th, the State of the Nation's address by President John Dramani Mahama last February and were further excluded from the National Economic Forum which ended Thursday. Read the full statement: The students� organizations and its leaders have learnt with shock the apparent neglect of students in national programmes and activities and lack of commitment towards their development by the present government lead by his Excellency President John Dramani Mahama. On this national Students Day, we wish to remind every Ghanaian that the students� Unions have contributed significantly to the development our dear Nation Ghana over the years and the only HOPE that exist for our nation is not the gold mines scattered across the nation, the Cocoa farms in our hinterlands or the oil rigs discovered and being discovered. The sure hope for our nation is its students and the youth in general. In recent past, there have been youth related policies developed in our nation and other programmes that apparently did not received any involvement or contribution from students and their leaders. NUGS can among others, significantly note that, we were not invited to the celebration of the National Independence day and the presentation of the State of the nation address by his Excellency President John Dramani Mahama. This has been further aggravated by the ongoing National Economic Forum in the Eastern region of which as usual NUGS have not been invited. While we applaud the Government for taking this step to build consensus and generate new ideas to attend to the present ailing economy and its attendant hardship it has brought upon Ghanaians we however want to register our utmost displeasure about the neglect and lack of involvement of students in the whole process. These are aside the letters we have written to the Ministry of education and the flagstaff house in which student leaders are seeking to engage the managers of the nation about some disturbing concerns confronting the development of our nation. All of these letters have not received the needed attention. The late President, His Excellency Prof, Evans Atta Mills though was not a youthful President but he showed a great deal of commitment towards the development of student unions and other youth organizations. It is however regretting to note that the same cannot be said about our youthful President His Excellency President John Dramani Mahamah. Ironically, Presidents and government outside Ghana are showing strong interest in the holistic development of students and student leaders in Ghana and elsewhere through a periodic engagement with the Youth through programmes such as the Young Africa Leaders Initiative (YALI). We wish to state that the students of Ghana will by next week come out to let concerned Ghanaians know the difficulties students are facing and the unfriendly policies being introduced on our campuses that are bound to increase the untold hardship being meted out to students. We wish to express our profound appreciation to those organizations (such as IDEG, TUC, IMANI, CODEO, etc.) that still see students as partners for national development. On this National Students Day, 15th May 2014, we want to encourage all students to continue to believe in themselves, work hard on their personal development and be rest assured that NUGS will continue to fight for their welfare by every means possible. The days ahead are not interesting.