Private Institution To Pre-Finanace Payment Of NYEP Allowances

The management of the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) is to enter into a partnership with a private institution to guarantee the timely release of funds to beneficiaries, to stop the perennial delay in the payment of their allowances.

Under the private-public-partnership (PPP) the private organisation would pre-finance the monthly allowances payable to the beneficiaries, to forstall the delay in the payment of allowances.

Later, the government would reimburse the private organisation.

More than 10,000 youth have been engaged under the internship module of the NYEP. They are deployed to state institutions across the country notably, the Controller and Accountant General's Department.

The National Co-ordinator of the NYEP, Mr Abuga Pele, told the Graphic in Accra that the new financial arrangement which was yet to be agreed upon would enable the government to mobilise funds to reimburse the paying organisation.

The NYEP under the current arrangement draws its funds from the National Health Insurance Scheme, the Road Fund, the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and the HIPC Funds where each of these organisations contribute some percentage of their resources into a pool for the NYEP to pay allowances.

Since funds released by the government to the named organisations to run their activities is done on a quarterly basis, therefore, the NYEP’s ability to pay its beneficiaries regularly, becomes thwarted due to cash flow problems.

Mr Pele is of the conviction that a private organisation absorbing the allowances of those employed under the internship module under the PPP arrangement, would temporarily relieve the government of the financial burden of shouldering monthly allowances.

The national co-ordinator added that in the effort to create job avenues for the unemployed youth, a Youth in Private Enterprise Programme was to be implemented with the view to absorbing between 30,000 and 50,000 of such people into the programme.

A steering committee for the US$5 million programme, according to him would soon be inaugurated and that Better Ghana Movement, a private organisation, would support the NYEP to pay those to be recruited.

Meanwhile, the Zeera Group, the private organisation responsible for the road maintenance module of the NYEP has presented 10 new trucks to the programme.

The module, which is one of the numerous modules of the NYEP was launched in June 2010 to recruit 10,000 youth across the country who would be tasked to constantly maintain roads by filling pot holes, clearing bushes, desilting gutters, among others.

The module, was launched in eight regions and is expected to be replicated in all regions before the close of the year.