‘Utilise talents of artisans’
The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Ghana has called for the establishment of a national entrepreneurship and innovation plan to identify, train and rope in a lot of artisans in the factories that would be established under the One District, One Factory (ODOF) policy.
Advertisement
According to the institute, there were a lot of artisans in the country whose expertise was not properly utilised to the benefit of the nation.
The President of CILT Ghana, Mr Ebo Hammond, who made the call, said the time had come for the nation to tap into and make good use of the skills and knowledge of the artisans for the success of the ODOF.
He was speaking in an interview with the Daily Graphic after the Governing Council of CILT Ghana paid a courtesy call on the Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Alan Kyerematen.
The visit by the officials from CILT Ghana was to congratulate Mr Kyerematen on his appointment as sector minister and also introduce the executive members of the institute to him.
Easy identification
Mr Hammond stated that the institute believed that what it was calling for would lead to the eventual establishment of a database on all artisans, if there was none, for easy identification.
“Some years back, there was the National Labour Office where all Ghanaians with different skills could easily be identified whenever their skills were needed urgently, but that is no longer in existence.
“We believe strongly that the establishment of this national entrepreneurship plan will help identify people with special skills to assist in the factories which are yet to be established,” he said.
In addition to that, Mr Hammond indicated that it would also go a long way to enhance the job creation agenda of the government.
Creation of free port
He also called on the government to create free ports as part of measures to increase trade between Ghana and the neighbouring countries.
He emphasised that the creation of free ports would encourage a lot of economic activities for the country, since a lot of freight forwarders would be using the ports.
He explained that the free port system usually allowed cargo users to take advantage of the port by paying less tax, noting that Nigeria and other neighbouring countries had implemented that to their advantage.
Collaboration
Speaking on behalf of the minister, Mr Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, a deputy minister designate for the sector, expressed appreciation for the visit and congratulated the new leadership of CILT Ghana.
He said the government was ready to collaborate with the various professional bodies in the country, and welcomed the contributions of others for the successful implementation of the ODOF and the industrialisation agenda.
