The Deputy Minister of Energy and Member of Parliament for the Ellembele Constituency, Hon Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah cautioned the youth of Ghana particularly those along the coast of the Western Region against the high expectation that the oil industry in Ghana would be the panacea to solving all the problems facing the country. This he said at a meeting he held at town hall meetings he was holding with community members of his constituency especially among the youth to receive their concerns and to offer solutions to address the challenges of the Constituency.
He said those who are also optimistic about job opportunities in the emerging industry must be reasonable with their expectations otherwise the unskilled could be disappointed.  Do not put all your eggs in one basket. You can be optimistic, but do not bank all your hopes in the oil industry because it will only favor those who will meet the industry standards. That is why you all need to go to school, upgrade yourselves and build your capacities to meet the industry requirement  he advised while addressing the youth of his Constituency at Essiama on Tuesday.
You cannot get the best out of the oil industry if you are not well informed, well educated or skillful. You must know what the industry require and build your capacity towards meeting that requirement  Hon. Buah stressed. According to Government Legislation, oil companies may be in the position of giving opportunities to local people because of their commitment of empowering them, but only those who meet their demand would get the opportunity.
There may be opportunities for local communities such as Essiama here, yet those who have demonstrated their readiness with the skills and the requisite qualifications would be taken on board. That is why you must be part of such people  he pointed out.
Consequently, he charged the youth in his constituency to take advantage of the opportunities available now to upgrade themselves so that they could be forces to reckon with when the oil industry takes off next year. The Minister after cautioning the youth against the high expectations explained to them that although the oil industry was one of the most lucrative job areas in economic development, there were other potential areas that the youth could look up to, which they were currently looking down upon. But that he said should not be so because  It is not only the oil industry that can help you, there are other important areas that you can consider to better your lives  he opined.
Hon. Buah contended that there were viable areas such as the Agric sector, services, micro and macro self establishments such as businesses through the acquisition of employable skills, which could be of great benefit to the youth. He therefore charged them to develop the culture of self help to create employment for themselves and many other unemployed youth.
He noted that the arduous task of Government was to provide support, make available an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.  Government cannot absorb every one searching for job that is why some of you will do this nation great service if you begin to venture into other sectors of the economy, through the acquisition of self employable skills to start your own projects and job programmes  he added.
He said Government is building the capacity of the youth, by supporting them to acquire the requisite skills to render them employable; however, all would come to naught if they do not put that into practice.
Mr. Jerry Afful, the leader of the youth of Essiama who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, accepted the challenge thrown to the youth by the Deputy Minister and assured him of their commitment to build themselves to meet industry demands. He however raised concerns over how the graduates and qualified youth with employable skills were not being hired by organizations. He thus urged Government to intervene in this matter to compel companies to engage the employable and skillful among the youth to reduce the rate of unemployment.