NABCO is nothing to celebrate – Minority

The Minority Spokesperson on Employment, Richard Quarshigah, does not seem enthused with the engagement of some graduates under the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) programme rolled out by the Akufo-Addo-led government.

Hundred thousand graduates are said to have been enrolled onto the seven modules of the programme and are expected to be on a monthly allowance of GH?700 for the next three years.

The recruits, who passed out Wednesday, October 17 at the Black Star Square in a fanfare graced by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his vice, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, were encouraged to put in their best to help build a country they will be proud of.

But the Member of Parliament for Keta Constituency, Richard Quarshigah, thinks there is nothing worthy of praise for the programme.

Speaking on an Accra-based radio station on Wednesday, the MP stated categorically: “Clearly, [NABCO] is nothing to celebrate”, maintaining: “Those celebrating it are doing so out of mediocrity”.

He explained that NABCO is not a novelty that deserves to be commended but carved out of the National Youth Employment Programme, which already existed.

The MP also questioned the authenticity of the 100,000 graduates the government claimed to have enrolled onto the programme.



He said he was surprised that the passing out ceremony was marked by a fanfare attended by the President and his vice, who promised Ghanaians jobs.

According to him, “this is nothing different so I cannot understand why the president who promised jobs want to be congratulated”.

Background

NABCO was launched by the president as part of government’s initiative to provide jobs for the country’s unemployed graduates.

The seven modules under NABCO are meant to help address the challenges facing the nation’s most pressing sectors while providing jobs to graduates who are unable to find jobs partly due to a ban on public sector employment by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

They have been put on Civic Ghana, Revenue Ghana, Educate Ghana, Enterprise Ghana, Digitize Ghana, Heal Ghana and Feed Ghana modules of the programme.