Weeks after the first batch of the Nation Builders Corps (NABCo) trainees completed the three-year programme, the young graduates wonder what will become of them as they go back home.

Some persons have tagged the programme as a mere vote-buying scheme meant to ‘deceive’ the beneficiaries into voting for the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The Executive Director for the Institute for Liberty and Policy Innovation (ILAPI), Peter Bismark for example, argued that the programme was rushed for the sake of campaign as it had no blueprint nor exit plan.

Addressing the concerns on Face to Face on Citi TV, the National Coordinator of NABCO, Dr. Ibrahim Anyars insisted that the three-year programme was not a waste of time, adding that some provisions have been made for the graduate trainees.

“President Akufo-Addo in considering the plights of graduates who were unemployed initiated this program. Three years on, we have young confident graduates who have their dignity rescued and their security for a period of time to decide what their career plan will be, others who came in with low levels of qualification all got to improve upon them.”

He further outlined the exit plan for the beneficiaries of the programme.

“If you ask the 68,000 who have completed the process, they will tell you that in the very final year of the programme, we took them through the CPTP i.e. the Career Pathway Transition Process and that is what has given us the about 68,000 number we have now.”

“The CPTP required that the graduate trainees indicate an exit profile indicating their career interests. Some of them chose permanent employment in the public sector, others opted for entrepreneurship and career-focused learning.”

“As a responsible government, President Akufo-Addo has ensured that over the period, NABCo trainees have been prioritized in recruitment, and we have over 49,000 in employment.”

“NABCo is in phases, the three years they did is the enrichment programme, the next is the Module Implementation Partners (MIP) who are the employment providers and so every one of them who exited on the 31st October 2021 received a message from us notifying them of an opportunity to join the exit preparation portal where the MIPs will come in.”

In 2018, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo launched the NABCo initiative for employing some 100,000 jobless graduates.

The programme operates seven modules designed to meet the pressing needs of the nation, while providing jobs for the teeming youth who have received tertiary education but are struggling to find jobs.

The beneficiaries were engaged for three years and earned a monthly stipend of GH¢700 each.

Modules
The modules are Feed Ghana, Educate Ghana, Revenue Ghana, Heal Ghana, Enterprise Ghana, Digitize Ghana and Governance Ghana.

Under the Feed Ghana module, the graduates were engaged as agricultural extension officers to help farmers, while under the Educate Ghana module, the beneficiaries were posted to Senior High Schools (SHSs) to teach especially Science and Mathematics.

In the case of the Revenue Ghana module, the graduates worked with the Ghana Revenue Authority to help in the collection of revenue, while under the Heal Ghana module, unemployed nurses were engaged to work in the health sector.

In respect of the Enterprise Ghana module, graduates were assigned to various private sector enterprises for jobs and skills training, as well as development.

Graduates who chose the Digitized Ghana module were also posted to the IT sector where they were attached to the National Identification Authority (NIA), the Ghana Post, the Births and Deaths Registry or the Land Title Registry to work.

In the case of the Governance Ghana module, the graduates were attached to various local government authorities.