NABCO Represents Visionary Leadership; Entirely Different From YEA
The National Coordinator of the Nation's Builders Corps [NABCO], Ibrahim Anyass, has debunked claims that the program is a duplication of other youth employment schemes like the Youth Employment Agency [YEA].
According to him, NABCO is a product of the visionary leadership by President Nana Akufo-Addo to curb the high rate of graduate unemployment in the country.
Speaking on Citi TV's Point of View, Dr. Ibrahim Anyass explained that the essence of NABCO is to create employment opportunities for a particular group of people to tackle specific challenges in the public sector.
“The NABCO is different from anything that we have had in existence in this country. It does not matter how you try to spin this, it is a youth employment agency that is targeted at a certain age cult without a qualification point… The whole essence of NABCO is that you make provisions for everyone with the qualification point of the age whenever they exit the tertiary campuses.”
“This country has got specific challenges in our public service center. It is only a visionary leadership that can make provision for the future leadership and jobs that Ghana is going to have in the next 5 to 10 years and to prepare its current workforce to be ready to explore such opportunities.”
Funding for NABCO not a problem
Information Minister designate, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has shot down calls for a dedicated revenue channel for the Nation Builder's Corps (NABCO) programme.
Government is investing several billions of cedis into the initiative for the 100,000 graduates engaged under the programme.
Speaking to Citi News, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah said the program will be funded on a similar module used to fund public sector salaries to sustain the initiative which promises to reduce the unemployment rate in the country.
“I've heard people suggest that we need to find a dedicated revenue channel for it. But my response to them is that if you look at many of our public service agencies, we don't have dedicated revenue channels for paying for example the police or military or many of the other agencies because government is committed to taking care of them and on a month by month basis resources are made available. That same level of commitment is what is available on this programme and we expect to sustain it as such,” he added.
NABCO will succeed – Nana Addo
Nana Akufo-Addo further hit back at critics who downplayed the impact of the NABCO initiative saying it will succeed.
Speaking at the passing out ceremony for the 100,000 NABCo recruits in Accra on Wednesday, he said he is 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.
Trainee nurses, midwives kick against NABCO
The Ghana Nurses and Midwife Trainees Association , were dissappointed with government over the NABCO programme saying government should employ them permanently instead of recruiting them on NABCO.
In May, the Public Relations Officer of the Association, Akugri Gaddafi, stated on Eyewitness News that the remuneration package for nurses in the programme is unfair, suggesting that newly-employed certificate nurses earn about 1, 100 cedis, while diploma and degree nurses earn between 1, 600 cedis and 1, 800 cedis, all much higher than the 700 cedis persons employed under the scheme are set to earn.