President John Dramani Mahama has charged the youth in Ghana to take advantage of the One Coders Programme to transform the future of Ghana’s technology workforce and the economy.
President Mahama described the initiative as a foundation for a new economy driven by innovation and digital solutions and called on the youth to embrace it in order to change the narrative of technology importation.
He made the remarks at the launch of the programme at the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT on Wednesday, April 16, 2025.
“Let us not underestimate what this represents for our country. We are changing the national narrative from one of limitations to one of limitless potential. From a country that consumes imported technologies to a country that creates its own. From young people waiting for jobs to young people creating jobs. This is how to build a resilient and future-ready country, Ghana. To the youth of Ghana, I say this programme is for you” he said.
President Mahama urged the youth to passionately own the programme and make it count.
“Take it and own it. Let this be your launchpad into innovation, entrepreneurship and global relevance. Let this be the bridge between your dreams and the opportunities of the digital age” he admonished.
Meanwhile, Minister for Communications, Digital Technology and Innovations, Samuel Nartey George disclosed that over ninety thousand 90,000 young Ghanaians have applied for the program exceeding the minimum number of applications for the first phase training.
“Mr. President, we planned to do the pilot with 260 students, but within the first four hours of announcing, we had over 4,000 applications. We decided to do a double track, and do 520.
As of this morning, about 30 minutes ago, the number of applications we have received is 91,847 applications. This speaks to the visionary nature of your plan and vision, to transform our digital ecosystem” he said.
According to the Minister, the initial courses for the pilot include, Certified Cyber Security Professional, Certified Network Support Technician, Certified Data Protection Manager, Certified Data Protection Expert, Certified Data Protection Officer, Certified Data Protection Professional, and Data Analyst Associate.
Meanwhile government says it will integrate digital literacy and coding into the country’s university and technical schools’ curricular.
This it says aims making digital education not just a short term initiative but a permanent strategic part of our educational system.
