President Akufo-Addo Launches Nation Builders Corps.
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa
Akufo-Addo, on Tuesday, 1st May, 2018, launched the Nation Builders
Corps (NABCO), which will employ, in this year alone, 100,000 young men
and women to assist in the public sector service delivery needs of
Ghana.
According to President Akufo-Addo, “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.”
Explaining the rationale for the establishment of the
Corps, President Akufo-Addo noted that the grim story of youth
unemployment has been a tragic part of the lives of Ghanaians for far
too long in Ghana, worsened, in recent times, by the ban placed on
public sector employment by the International Monetary Fund.
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.”
NABCO’s central focus, the President said, 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.”
How to apply
With module qualification and recruitment processes,
and all the essential criteria, along with detailed information, all
available on the website of NABCO (www.nabco.gov.gh), the President
noted that the website 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.”
For the attainment of equity and fairness, 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.
Remuneration
With the ultimate aim being to help guarantee
employability of these graduates, placements would last for a period of
three (3) years, earning NABCO trainees 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.
Non-graduates
With regards to persons who do not have diplomas or
degrees, the President indicated that NABCO is freeing up the Youth
Employment Agency (YEA) of the burden of dealing with everything to do
with employment amongst the youth, especially graduates.
“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,” he
explained.
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.
President Akufo-Addo 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.”
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