By Frank Amponsah
The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has disclosed that the establishment of the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) will be the vehicle to deliver one hundred thousand (100,000) more jobs in seven (7) prioritised areas to tackle the grim story of youth unemployment that has been a tragic part of the lives of Ghanaians over a long time.
The areas according to Nana Addo the seven areas are: Educate Ghana; Heal Ghana; Feed Ghana; Revenue Ghana; Digitise Ghana; Enterprise Ghana; and Civic Ghana.
Launching NABCO, President Akufo-Addo noted that the youth of Ghana have suffered for far too long yet youth unemployment continue to worsen in recent times because of the ban placed on public sector employment by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
According to the first gentleman of the land, government will employ in this year alone 100,000 young men and women to assist in the public sector service delivery needs of the country.
He averred that “NABCO will be the vehicle to deliver one hundred thousand (100,000) jobs in seven (7) prioritised areas, defined as the following modules: Educate Ghana; Heal Ghana; Feed Ghana; Revenue Ghana; Digitise Ghana; Enterprise Ghana; and Civic Ghana.”
That is why, according to the President, in the 2018 budget statement, “I gave an indication that a new employment scheme will be launched to tackle the issue of the growing numbers of graduates exiting our tertiary institutions with no job placements in sight.”
The President said, NABCO’s central focus would be to create employment avenues and opportunities for young people who hold diplomas or degrees from accredited tertiary institutions, adding that “NABCO will enhance the dignity and self-esteem of our graduates, and will also present them with the added benefit of efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of some essential public services.”
President Akufo-Addo was confident that by the time NABCO trainees exit the scheme, which is for a 3-year period, “the requisite work readiness skills and experience, often deemed a barrier to their employment as fresh graduates, would have been resolved.”
The President however revealed that graduates who are placed under these modules would serve for a period of three (3) years, earning them a stipend of 700 Ghana Cedis every month.
“This is a modest, but important beginning towards the restoration of their dignity. Beneficiaries will also receive continuous skills training, and retraining on the job, both to equip and guide their future career paths,” the President stated.
He noted further that the security offered by this graduate employment scheme implies that graduates have sufficient time to make prudent choices on their future entry onto the labour market, on potential interests of starting businesses and entrepreneurship, or even on definitive clarity on further learning options, guided by experiences and the benefit of exposure to the world of work.
With regards to persons who do not have diplomas or degrees, the President indicated that NABCO is freeing up the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) off the burden of dealing with everything to do with employment amongst the youth, especially graduates.
He said: “NABCO is granting YEA extra absorptive capacity to concentrate on non-graduates. YEA will also recruit 80,000 non-graduates this year, whilst NABCO commences recruitment of 100,000 graduates.”
President Akufo-Addo assured that Government’s commitment to job creation will not end here, but would be accelerated through the implementation of our flagship programmes of “One District One Factory”, “One village One Dam”, and the Programme for Planting for Food and Jobs.
“We are also creating an enabling economic environment for the private sector to thrive, which will drive in investment, foreign and domestic, and, thereby, help create jobs,” he added.
He urged graduates who qualify to enter this scheme to “own it and help something meaningful and fulfilling happen for yourself and for your country. Be proud to say ‘I am a Nation Builder’, and this country will be thankful to you too for rising up to the challenge.”
The President noted that the website, www.nabco.gov.gh is the only medium for receiving applications from graduates, as long as they are Ghanaian citizens, and have duly discharged their national service obligations.
“There are no charges or costs, and no paper application forms to fill. Everything is being done online, and on the website of NABCO. This will optimise efficiency in the processing of applications, as well as afford the opportunity for checking with other available, national databases to prevent fraud,” he added.
The President continued, “With the application processes closing on 1st June, 2018, it is expected that, by 1st July, selected applicants would become this country’s first NABCO trainees, who will receive training and will be deployed to commence their work by 1st August, 2018.”
The President noted that, every constituency has a stated allocation out of the 100,000 placements, which has been worked out based on a weighting formula, thus, ensuring all constituencies, large or small, adequate representation.
