Service Personnel suffering to get permanent jobs - NSS Executive Director

The Executive Director of the National Service Scheme (NSS), Mustapha Ussif has revealed that service personnel in the last 10 years go through various forms of suffering in order to get permanent jobs.

He disclosed that most of them after their mandatory service are unable to secure jobs and it takes them up to a decade before they are able to land on one a move he described as very unfortunate and frustrating.

According to him, about 90% of service personnel are not retained at their respective places where they have been posted to engage in the mandatory national service.

At an Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Technology workshop with scientists from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and Harvard University at on Saturday 9, at the Best Western Premier Accra Airport Hotel, he said:, “The youth of Ghana and Africa represent our greatest resource, our greatest potential for solving our greatest development challenges and therefore delivering our future success. Therefore, a high unemployment rate is a national security threat.”

“Research has shown that, 90% of personnel posted over the past years are not maintained at their various posts after service and manage to secure jobs within 10 years after service.”

This he said has been his headache, hence the collaboration with MIT-Ghana REAP other relevant agencies to end this cycle after each service year.

According to him, the Scheme will be introducing an Entrepreneurship & Innovation Deployment Model in 2018 which is structured to assist selected graduates with business idea(s) to become job creators through entrepreneurship and Innovation.

“Those who set up businesses must succeed for them to create wealth and employ more people. This is the surest way to turn our beloved country’s fortunes around and the Scheme owns the country a responsibility by creating opportunities for the youth to enable them create wealth for themselves and employ their colleagues. This approach will go a long way to reduce the high unemployment among the youth”, he added.

The interaction was organized by the NSS in collaboration with Dalex Finance with the youth on Entrepreneurship and Innovation with Technology with scientist from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and Harvard University at on Saturday 9, at the Best Western Premier Accra Airport Hotel.

The Program which is bound from the MIT-Ghana Regional Entrepreneurs Accelerated Programme (REAP) and The Africa Harvard Study Group seeks to tackle the high unemployment among the youth by encouraging them into entrepreneurship and innovation.