As part of the government’s larger industrialization plan, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has endorsed the One-District, One-Factory project as a means of creating a domestic infrastructure that can survive the ambiguities of exogenous shocks to the Ghanaian economy.
In this regard, the President noted that four (4) 1D1F enterprises are currently in the project conception stage, and that the Eastern Region alone has seen seventeen (17) 1D1F firms finished, with another sixteen (16) in various stages of completion and soon to be commissioned.
President Akufo-Addo’s long-held conviction that Ghana’s path to self-reliance is largely predicated on the country’s determination to industrialize has been amply demonstrated by the performance and success of the completed 1D1F projects across the country with regard to minimizing unemployment and shoring local production.
The President stated that “the whole aim of the policy is having factories and enterprises here in Ghana, which will replace the ones that are coming from outside” as he launched a three-day trip of the Eastern Region on Friday, October 21, 2021. That is the policy’s main objective.You’re going to have XYZ manufactured locally rather than importing them.
He added that, “when we said we wanted to implement 1D1F and certain strategic industrial policies, we were told it couldn’t be done, but today everyone is talking about how important it is for the Ghanaian economy to lessen it’s dependence on foreign goods and foreign services.”
“Now people are beginning to understand that indeed we had the foresight, we knew exactly what we needed to do to bring substantial progress, real progress not intermittent progress, but substantial progress which is going to be strong and resilient. That is what I’ve noticed is ongoing,” he added.
The commitment of a 1D1F would have been established by the time we are finished, the president of Ghana further stated.
And the only way to ensure that our growth is unaffected by our reliance on imports from abroad is to further the industrial development of the nation.
We have the cure-all, the answer, and the government is trying to implement it.
The 1D1F plan of President Akufo-Addo aims to transform Ghana’s economy from one that is dependent on raw material import and export to one that is centered on manufacturing, value addition, and export of processed goods from raw resources that are mostly found in the country’s districts.
The Akufo-Addo Government is currently building a comprehensive industrialization program on the foundation of the One-District-One-Factory initiative, which has seen the ongoing construction of 296 factories across the nation, of which 135 have been completed. This program is inspired by the development of strategic anchor industries, such as the emerging automotive industry and the coordinated exploit of natural resources.
“I am hopeful that, by the end of my term, the full complement of two hundred and ninety-six (296) factories will be in operation to help provide quality domestic alternatives to the consumption needs of Ghanaians, and reduce substantially our dependence on imports. We do not only account for the youth as labour in the 1D1F programme, but also as managers and owners. Indeed, fifty-eight (58) of these factories are wholly owned by young people who have received direct government support”, he concluded.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com