By Godwill Arthur Mensah 

Accra, June 30, GNA – The Government has projected to mobilise four billion US dollars in the next four years towards the full-scale implementation of the 24-Hour Economy programme from development financial partners and institutions across the globe. 

The programme is designed to transform the economy and stimulate private sector participation to create jobs and ensure prosperity for all Ghanaians. 

Mr Augustus Obuadum Tanoh, Presidential Advisor for the 24-Hour Economy Secretariat, told the media in Accra on Monday, ahead of the official launch of the programme on Wednesday, July 2. 

He said government would, however, provide an initial seed capital of $300 million to support businesses and individuals who would sign up onto the programme to ramp up production. 

He said the programme had three key pillars including the Production Transformation, Supply Chain and Market Efficiency and Human Capital Development. 

He said the three thematic pillars of the programme are supported by eight sub programmes, including Grow 24, Make 24, Connect 24, Show Ghana, Go Ghana, Digital Technology, and Aspire 24. 

Mr Tanoh said government drew lessons from previous governments’ development initiatives including Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s seven-year development plan, Savannah Development Authority (SADA) and the National Development Planning Commission’s 40-year development plan. 

The Presidential Advisor indicated that the 24-Hour Economy Policy document would be presented to Parliament after its unveiling on July 2, for comprehensive debate to ensure the buy-in of legislators from both sides of the aisle to ensure its holistic and seamless implementation. 

The 24-Hour Economy Secretariat would also be converted into an Authority to enhance its scope of operations, he added. 

In a presentation on the policy document, Mr Abdul-Nasser Suglo Alidu, the Head of Strategy and Programme at the Secretariat, highlighted the various sub programmes, noting that the programme was designed to transform production with agriculture as its main anchor to ensure food sufficiency. 

It was also intended to develop the country’s value chain to achieve greater productivity and expand output in the industries to enhance food self-sufficiency and promote export-driven economy, Mr Abdul-Nasser explained. 

For instance, he indicated that, the ‘Make 24’ component was meant to boost manufacturing of goods and services, while the ‘Aspire 24’ was intended to change the mind-set of Ghanaian workers and minimise the bureaucratic bottlenecks in the public sector to aid in changing attitudes of the citizens for optimal productivity. 

The ‘Show Ghana’ component for instance, he explained, was to showcase the rich diverse cultural identity of the Ghanaian people and connect with the diasporan community to promote tourism. 

 The ‘Go Ghana’ initiative was meant to mobilise the citizens to build a prosperous nation while the ‘Made-in-Ghana’ component meant to promote local manufacturing of goods and encourage Ghanaians to patronise domestically manufactured items. 

Mr Abdul-Nasser stated that the programme would also roll-out the Volta Economic Corridor where there would be industrial parks, agro ecological parks and lake transportation on the Volta Lake to boost socio-economic development within the enclave. 

Mr Abdul-Nasser said the programme had a national character and designed to utilise the human resource capacity and ingenuity of Ghanaians to accelerate socio-economic transformation and create jobs. 

He cited Singapore, Malaysia, China and Denmark, which in the past implemented similar initiatives and believed that very soon Ghana would become a model of industrial transformation in West Africa and Africa at large. 

GNA 

Christian Akorlie