President Akufo Addo says government is gradually addressing the issue of unemployment through initiatives such as the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO).
Speaking at a meeting with the Ghanaian Diaspora in Accra, the President said about 100,000 graduates had been employed through the programme.
He said Nurses and midwives had also been offered job opportunities under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.
“In addressing the issues of unemployment, we have through the Nation Builders Corps initiative, put 100,000 graduates to work. Tens and tens of thousands of Nurses and midwives who had graduated between 2012 and 2016 and were sitting at home, twigging their farms are being employed and some 59,000 teachers have been given jobs since I came into office in 2017.
President Nana Akufo-Addo in October 2018 commissioned the passing out ceremony for 100,000 beneficiaries under NABCO modules which include Feed Ghana, Educate Ghana, Revenue Ghana, Heal Ghana, Enterprise Ghana, Digitise Ghana and Governance Ghana.
The National Coordinator of NABCo, Ibrahim Anyass, assured that the programme was not a duplication of other youth employment schemes like the Youth Employment Agency (YEA).
President Nana Akufo-Addo at the passing out ceremony admonished the recruits not to consider the GHc700 stipend as free money but should work hard to earn it.
“You must bear in mind that government is investing some GH¢3 billion cedis of taxpayers’ money into this programme. Your monthly GH¢700 is not free money, and you must earn every pesewa of it which I’m confident you’ll do,” he said.
Create a legal framework to keep NaBCo on track – Minority
The Minority in Parliament is demanding a legal framework to guide the implementation of the government’s Nation Builders’ Corps (NABCo) programme.
According to the Minority Leader, Haruna Idrissu, the government must learn from previous experiences with such schemes that did not have legal backing and veered from their core mandates.
NABCO will succeed – Nana Addo tells critics
Following enormous criticism of the NABCO initiative, President Akufo-Addo at the passing out ceremony hit back at critics who downplayed the impact of the NABCo insisting that the programme will go a long way to partly address the current unemployment situation in the country.
He was also optimistic the country will benefit from the talents of the NABCo graduates.
“As has become the norm with every bold initiative proposed by this administration, this programme, predictably, was not only ridiculed in certain quarters but also met with pessimistic and cynical comments with some going to the extent of urging graduates from our nations tertiary institutions not to register for the programme. In NABCO, we have planted the seeds of growth and future of our country. I am in no doubt whatsoever that NABCO will succeed,” he added.
