The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has rallied the media to support government increase awareness about on-going projects in the Tourism, Arts and Culture sector while wooing private sector investments in upcoming projects.
He stated that when editors help in creating more awareness about the sector, they direct more public attention to the sector.
“If the unemployed youth had more knowledge, expertise, and insights about what is happening in the industry and the prospects they may have, they will move into that area” he said.
The Minister said this at forum with editors in Accra.
Mr Nkrumah called on the editors to help encourage a lot more partnerships in the sector, stressing that if they don’t help in putting the word out there about how citizens and private sectors can partner the government, they won’t know.
“If you don’t put the word out there, we’ll be sitting here complaining that the private sector is not participating in the public sector,” he added.
The Information minister noted that as a country, “we need a closer collaboration if we are going to advance as a country, especially between government, private sectors, academia, citizens and the media. “
“If we work across purposes at every point in time, we won’t get to where we want to get to, but if we collaborate more then we’ll get to the end game,” he said.
He also suggested that articles in the sector be allocated to reporters who have sufficient expertise in the industry.
The Minister of Information also noted that the economy is not equal to finance, but is the end product of various things, and that the real sector, where growth and jobs come from, lie in the hands of various other Ministries.
“So if you’re looking for increased productivity, jobs, incomes, it doesn’t come from monetary policy or fiscal policy, it comes from those who handle the real sector,” he said.
He stated that the Tourism, Creative Arts, and Hospitality Sector is the third largest contributor to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the country.
“That means that it is the third largest sector in our country, where there’s productive activity where people are finding jobs, where people get incomes, and improve their quality of life,” he stated.
He indicated that from the foreign exchange point of view, it’s the second largest contributor of foreign exchange.
“It is an important sector for our economic advancement because that’s where there are a lot of productive activities, jobs and incomes.
The kind of interventions that have been going on there in recent times are key to helping us move our economy beyond where it is,” he explained.
