NAFAC holds second Regional Day in Koforidua
Koforidua, Nov. 15, GNA – The National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFAC) held its second regional day celebration with performances and presentations from the Bono, Central, Western and Upper East regions, in Koforidua.
All four regions made presentations on the rich resources and tourist sites located in their regions and stressed on the need for the youth to be empowered to venture into arts and culture for wealth creation and national development.
Mr Kingsley Aboagye Gyedu, Western North Regional Minister, said there is a need for a policy on “Youth in Tourism” as it has been done with the ‘Youth in Forestry’ programme to ignite the interest of the youth on the several opportunities that abound in the tourism sector.
He said once the programme has attracted the youth into the sector, they would focus on our cultural heritage to create jobs and employment opportunities for them.
The Minister also called on investors to invest in the tourism adding that “every region in the country has tourism potentials and must be developed as a means to promote our culture and create jobs too for our teeming youth”
Mr Stephen Siaka, Deputy Bono Regional Minister, said the creative industry does not have enough support to attract the youth and called on all stakeholders to devise strategies to redefine the taste for locally made goods.
He said the Ghanaian culture revolves around the creative industry, yet industry players suffer in terms of marketing and expressed the hope that NAFAC would be used to focus on how to promote arts and creativity to become sources of livelihoods for the youth
Mr Thomas Yaw Agyei Baffour, Deputy Central Regional Minister, used the occasion to call for investors in the salt production industry adding the region has a lot of that natural resource and could be harnessed for job creation.
Alhaji Ibrahim Habillah, Upper West Region representative, said each region has unique culture features and traditions that gave them an identity which must be projected.
There would be a youth day celebration to be held under the theme: « Empowering the Youth through Culture, Tourism and Creative Arts for Employment and Wealth Creation », at the Centre for National Culture (CNC) Auditorium on Tuesday.
