Govt Works Out Payment Deal For NYEP Beneficiaries

THE government has reached an agreement with the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) to pay allowances of beneficiaries of the National Youth Employment Programme NYEP on monthly basis.

The payment, which starts this month, will include the delayed April allowance while that of January to March will be paid later.

The Minister of Manpower, Youth and Employment, Nana Akomea, said this when he briefed the media in Accra yesterday on efforts made by the ministry to resolve the problem of delayed payment of allowances of beneficiaries of the programme.

He said that by this agreement, beneficiaries would be allowed to open accounts with the bank and have their allowances paid directly into the accounts.

Nana Akomea said the untimely payment of the allowances has been a major source of worry to the ministry, as the situation had created the impression that the programme was failing.

He said NYEP pays GH¢6.4 million monthly to some 108,403 beneficiaries countrywide, with resources from the GETFund, National Health Insurance Scheme, Road Fund, HIPC Fund and VAT Service.

'We have to wait until financial contributors to the programme submit the cheques before we can effect payment and this comes quarterly,' he explained.

Nana Akomea said it was the reliance on this process that created the delay, and was confident that with the new agreement, beneficiaries will now be happy to go about their duties diligently.

That, he said, will go a long way to reflect the government’s vision in instituting the programme.