A group calling itself the Coalition of NABCo recruits has said thousands of its members across the country would throng the Obra Spot in Accra on Friday to protest over unpaid allowances.
The Nation Builders Corp (NABCo) is a stop-gap measure by the Akufo-Addo government to address graduate unemployment.
Abubakar Sidic, National Secretary of NABCo told Citi News, the group is compelled to protest for what he described as undue delays in the payment their allowances.
“We would be embarking on a demonstration [exercise] and our reasons are simple. We want to know from the government why NABCo trainees have not been paid since November [2018] up to date and others have not been paid since January [2019] when the agreement they gave us as NABCo trainees was to serve the country and that at the end of every month we would be given 700 cedis. They keep saying that the delay in our payment is from the trainees, but we believe it is not true. Every month, trainees teaching in the villages have to come to the cities, do the updates and go back. We are going through a lot of hell,” he said.
Last month, a group of Nation Builders Corps (NABCo) recruits protested the delay in payment of their allowances.
Some of the NABCO recruits who spoke to Citi News expressed the frustration at the delay in the payment of the allowances despite meeting all the validation requirements.
“Until they pay us, we are not leaving the NABCo premises. When you go there, they tell you the money will come meanwhile they are paying our colleagues. The most painful aspect of it is that, those who are at home and have not received placement yet, they have been paid but those of us who are on the field and actually working have not been paid,” one of the recruits said.
Another one also said he had evidence that he had met all the requirements for payment but is yet to receive his allowance for the previous month.
“Evidence is here that I have updated my information. They sent me a text message to confirm that I have updated my information and so I should expect payment. I have the signatures of the coordinators but [the payment] is yet to come.”
In January 2019, some NABCo recruits complained that they had not received their allowances since the program began.
The Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said the delay in the payment was due to inaccurate data on the payroll.
He said the affected persons must update their information before they can receive payment.
“NABCO secretariat sent messages to beneficiaries to correct their data for it to be rekeyed into the system. The secretariat informs us that 9,235 of them have now corrected their data and thus will be paid this week. Their December and regular stipends are also programmed to be paid immediately afterwards,” he said.
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By: Farida Yusif | citinewsroom.com | Ghana
