NaBCO was a populist policy with zero output – Ofosu-Apofo

National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo has described the Nation Builders Corps (NaBCO) programme as a populist policy that did not impact the life of the youth.

He wondered about the kind of skill sets the initiative gave to the youth to enable them to transition to the next level in life.

Speaking on the ‘Pae Mu Ka’ show with Yaa Titi Okrah on Onua FM Monday, July 25, Mr Ofosu-Ampofo said “The country has been mismanaged because the government is not getting its priorities right.

“I am very sad for young people in this country. NPP came to power on the back of deception. They are lying that they created jobs for over 100,000 youth meanwhile, it is not true, they never created 100,000 jobs. We need to audit that figure because the number of people NABCO employed is not up to 100,000.

“The people need sustainable jobs, for you to say that the NaBCO programme is ending, what have you achieved? What transition have you done? Nothing. This is a populist policy with a Zero output.”

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta on Monday during the mid-year budget review presentation said the NABCO is ending on September 1, 2022.

“Mr. Speaker, our iconic National Builder’s Corps (NaBCo) programme, which was initially to run for three years and extended for an additional year, will be completed by 1st September 2022. The Programme- which engaged 100,000 young graduates, has prepared thousands of them for the world of work. So far we have invested approximately GH¢2.2 billion,” he said.

“As they exit, the current cohort on the programme are encouraged to take advantage of the YouStart initiative and other existing programmes in our drive to Build an Entrepreneurial Nation,” he added.

The NaBCO initiative was launched by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Tuesday, 1st May 2018.

Mr Akufo-Addo while launching the programme was confident that by the time NABCO trainees exited the scheme “the requisite work readiness skills and experience, often deemed a barrier to their employment as fresh graduates, would have been resolved.”

“NABCO will be the vehicle to deliver one hundred thousand (100,000) jobs in seven (7) prioritised areas, defined as the following modules: Educate Ghana; Heal Ghana; Feed Ghana; Revenue Ghana; Digitise Ghana; Enterprise Ghana; and Civic Ghana,” Mr Akufo-Addo said at the time.

Explaining the rationale for the establishment of the Corps, President Akufo-Addo noted that the grim story of youth unemployment had been a tragic part of the lives of Ghanaians for far too long in Ghana.

The situation he said was worsened by the ban placed on public sector employment by the International Monetary Fund programme the Mahama administration entered into which he inherited, at the time.

“I gave an indication that a new employment scheme will be launched to tackle the issue of the growing numbers of graduates exiting our tertiary institutions with no job placements in sight,” he said.

NABCO’s central focus, the President said, was to create employment avenues and opportunities for young people who hold diplomas or degrees from accredited tertiary institutions, adding that “NABCO will enhance the dignity and self-esteem of our graduates, and will also present them with the added benefit of efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of some essential public services.”