Give job vacancies to NABCO trainees - Coordinator appeals

The Upper East Regional Coordinator of the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO), Jambeidu Issahaku Khan, has appealed to governmental agencies, departments and the ministries to begin considering trainees of the program for job recruitments whenever there are vacancies.

He said when such job opportunities are given to the trainees, space will be created to enable for the enrolment of more graduates onto the program and further expand it to achieve its purpose.

Addressing journalists on Monday when NABCO held its Regional Anniversary Durbar in Bolgatanga as part of activities to commemorate the one-year of the initiative, the coordinator believes recruiting the trainees will compensate and do the country a lot of good. Especially with the huge investments government is putting into the initiative targeted at improving their skills and competencies.

He said, “For an organization like NABCO with the commitment of His Excellency, President Nana Akufo-Addo and finding 70 million cedis every month to pay trainees, minus salaries and emoluments of staff, is so much money. So we are making an appeal to government to talk to departs, agencies and ministries, if they have vacancies to recruit, they should recruit first of all from the Nation Builders Corps and then if we do not have the talent in the pool of the hundred thousand, then they can look outside."

“We think that with the investment NABCO is making in terms of providing jobs, in terms of the training we are having to improve the skills and competence levels of these graduates, we think that it will serve this country well if the ministries, departments and agencies could be appealed to talk to the NABCO in times of job recruitments."

“Once that is done, NABCO can also recruit more graduates and begin with the training of the new ones that have been added to the initiative.”

Mr. Khan thanked the President for his unwavering support and commitment to the program and appealed to him to, in his 2020 budget, consider a 30% increment in the numbers of the initiative.

He explained the increment will add to the efforts being made by government to tackle graduate unemployment which continues to be one of the challenges holding the country down.

“Our other appeal is to President Nana Akufo-Addo, we know the 2020 budget will be read in November, we will be very excited if the numbers for the Nations Builders Corps are increased a bit. At least, a minimum of 30% will take our numbers from 100,000 to 130,000. We think that enormous work has been done by this government, in terms of providing jobs for the teeming unemployed graduates before NABCO came into existence but there is still a lot more that the president can do. And I know the graduates of this country will be grateful to the President and this government if that is done."

Salifu Saeed, the Deputy Upper East Regional Minister, who commended the Management of NABCO for a year of improvement and impact in the lives of beneficiaries and families with the seven modules of the initiative, expressed his confidence in NABCO becoming one of the major public service agencies that create avenue for Ghanaian youth to participate in governance of the country.

He said the training NABCO gives to the corps will help them imbibe values such as patriotism, volunteerism, loyalty and defending the good name of the country, which are critical for the growth and development of the country.

Mr. Salifu reminded NABCO to endeavour and stick to its vision in the face of their challenges, adding that such challenges, with the collective ability to surmount them, will make the initiative a vehicle for the acquisition of critical industrial experience and skills training.

“NABCO stands to be one of the major public service agency that creates avenue for the youth of Ghana to participate in the governance of the country. Through that, they imbibe the country’s age-old values of patriotism, volunteerism, loyalty and uphold and defend the good name of Ghana.”

“We congratulate government and the beneficiaries on the first anniversary of the program and resolve to do everything to sustain it into eternity. It is natural that a young program of its nature would have gone through some challenges in the just-ended year. But I am upbeat about our collective ability to surmount those and future ones to make NABCO a vehicle for skills training and acquisition of critical industrial experience,” he reminded.

Some of the trainees our Reporter spoke to thanked government for the initiative and its commitment to ensuring the success of the program.

Lukman Baba Ibrahim, a trainee with the Digitize Ghana Module, said working as a beneficiary with the Bolgatanga Municipality has given him a source of monthly income and exposed him to a lot of experience which he otherwise would not have gotten idling at home.

He added that the training he receives at his post from the implementation partners has given him an insight into Information Communication Technology (ICT) that can make him undergo any job interview with ease.

Amenyah Kove Edem, who is with the Region’s National Youth Authority (NYA) office, said NABCO has moved her from depending on her parents to a state where she has a source of income she takes monthly.

The skills training, meeting the resource people and an improvement in her public speaking ability are a few of the things she has learnt since she joined NABCO.

Asked if trainees faced any challenges, she responded, “so far, so good”. She thanked the President and asked that more be done to sustain the initiative.