Former President John Dramani Mahama has hinted that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) aims to allocate $3 billion towards generating more digital jobs for the youth through its One Million Coders Programme.

“The One Million Coders Programme will be aimed at creating additional digital jobs for our youth and we intend to spend $3 billion investments in Information and Communication Technology (ICT),” he told audience at a public lecture at the Christian Service University in Kumasi.

Addressing as the Guest Speaker at the lecture hosted by the Christian Service University as a part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, the Former President emphasized that Ghana would witness the establishment of sound and prudent economic management, grounded in extensive governance and economic reforms, under the new leadership of the NDC.

He emphasized that his primary focus would be on stabilizing the economy, halting the depreciation of the cedi, and restoring its value against other currencies.

“Our economic policy would be geared towards sustainable growth with an equitable distribution of the proceeds of growth amongst our citizens,” the Former President assured.

He further indicated that, “The basic structure of our economy reliant on raw material export with little or no value addition is no longer tenable.”

He expressed that substantial growth and wealth generation would remain unattainable, leading to the government's failure to cater to the needs of the populace if the current situation persisted.

Mr. Mahama stated that the upcoming NDC administration would endeavor to revive the nation's traditional export sectors to their former prominence. Additionally, providing incentives to cocoa farmers to boost exports and revitalizing the sector to capitalize on enhanced world market prices would be a key focus for the NDC.

“We will also increase production in our oil and gas sector.

The last eight years have been wasted without one single oil well brought on stream,” he bemoaned.

He noted that the oil and gas industry was undergoing a transitional phase as the world moved towards green energy. Consequently, countries with oil resources were rushing to extract them. However, Ghana had squandered eight years without expanding its oil wells.

“If we don’t bring these producers back on stream and take advantage of our oil and gas sector, the world would make the transition, and our gas and oil will become stranded assets,” he cautioned.

He assured that his administration would strive to enhance Ghana's sovereignty over its natural resources and shift towards processing them locally. Simultaneously, efforts would be made to attract investments in sectors like agriculture, industry, and agribusiness.

“This will increase our export potentials and bring in foreign exchange so that it can lead to a stable currency,” he opined.