The National Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Nation Builders Corps [NABCO], Nana Tachie Erick, has slammed Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta for what he called “palpable falsehoods” in his statement that the government of Ghana has secured permanent jobs for NABCO graduates during the 2024 budget representation.
During the 2024 budget presentation in Parliament on Wednesday, Ofori-Atta stated that the Akufo-Addo government assisted 100,000 young NABCO graduates in securing permanent employment, lowering the country’s unemployment rate.
In response to the budget statement, Mr. Tachie stated that the program’s implementation, which was an interim measure against graduate unemployment, ended in early 2021, leaving trainees in limbo.
“Trainees are walking aimlessly at the roadside without Jobs. NABCO never achieved its intended purpose as detailed in the 2024 budget,” he said.
Mr. Tachie reiterated that it is a shame and utterly dishonest on the part of the government to popularize its own unimaginably failure, adding that it is beyond all human expressions for the government to trade on expired failed ad hoc NABCO policy engulfed with nine-month arrears, even at the lying tongue, promising permanent employment by President Akufo-Addo, which has never materialized.
He added, “The amount spent on NABCO should have nothing to do with the 2024 budget, as made known during the 2024 budget representation yesterday by Ken Ofori-Atta, the minister of finance. The career pathway transition process, which was optioned to usher beneficiaries into permanent mainstream jobs by Dr. Bawumia, never came to fruition.
Mr. Tachie further stated that over 70,000 NABCO trainees have currently subscribed to the Unemployed Youth Alliance, stressing that NABCO didn’t make any difference for its intended purpose, so the government should never boast of its achievement.
The Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) program is a government initiative to address graduate unemployment and solve social problems for better livelihoods.
The rationale behind the initiative is finding pragmatic measures for solving public service delivery in health, education, agriculture, technology, and governance and driving revenue mobilization and collection.
The objective was to provide temporary employment to unemployed graduates and to improve skills and employability for the transition from the program to permanent jobs.