NABCO not a duplication of YEA modules – Oppong Nkrumah

A deputy minister of Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has dismissed minority claims that the Nation Builders Corps initiative is a duplication of the Youth Employment Agency modules.

Mr Nkrumah explained that the Nation Builders Corps is a supplementary programme introduced by the Akufo-Addo administration to further reduce the unemployment situation in the country.

The opposition NDC in an attempt to discredit the programme had earlier claimed on multiple platforms that it was only an extension of the YEA programme and that the new administration deserved no credit for it.

But the Deputy Minister who also doubles as MP for Ofoase-Ayeribi explained that the two programmes were different though they seek to solve the same underlying problem.

“The youth employment modules do not focus on Degree and diploma holders but this initiative focuses on recruiting 100,000 unemployed graduates. The Youth Employment Agency modules continue to recruit and engage our youth in mostly blue collar jobs. But this initiative is specifically designed to accommodate graduates and diploma holders in the white collar segment. The two do not conflict nor duplicate each other.

“The current modules under NaBCo will augment the current modules we have under the YEA to provide more jobs for the youth in the country,” he remarked on UTV.

Responding to questions whether the application process will consider placing only affiliates of the New Patriotic Party to these positions, Nkrumah stated that government’s focus is primarily to ease the unemployment situation in the country regardless of the party affiliation of the beneficiary.

He further explained that the beneficiaries will earn an income while acquiring further post academic employable skills which will make it easier for them to enter into the world of full employment upon completion of the program. Nkrumah also mentioned that unlike employment programs of old, the NABCO has four exit modules for which beneficiaries will be prepared from months 31-36.

The Nation Builders Corps was launched on May 1st, 2018 as one of President Akufo-Addo’s Coordinated Programme of Economic and Social Development Policies to reduce graduate unemployment in the country. A total of 100,000 unemployed graduates are expected to be employed in the first year of the pilot programme.