The Minister of State at the Ministry of Works and Housing, Freda Akosua Prempeh, has hinted that the consolidated approach and the major drive towards entrepreneurship by government will affect the business-minded youth among the current Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) trainees currently at the exit phase of the programme.
She said the status of the remaining trainees on the NABCO Scheme is tied to their elected career pathways, which are permanent employment, entrepreneurship and further learning.
Mrs Akosua Prempeh, who is also the Member of Parliament for Tano North, disclosed this when she appeared before Parliament to answer a question by Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Member of Parliament for North Tongu.
“What was the government’s policy on the status of NABCO trainees after the expiration of their three-year engagement, which lapsed at the end of October 2021, and plans for more sustainable job creation?” Ablakwa asked.
Response
In response, the Minister of State explained that the first batch of NABCO trainees’ three-year engagement lapsed at the end of October 2021, adding that NABCO had provided work and learning experiences for those who voluntarily signed onto the programme in 2018.
“The work option is meant for trainees to put their foundational education background to use, build and acquire additional skills within the work environment. The Scheme expected to see trainees considering various pathways during their stay on the Scheme leading to their exit,” she said
According to her, the NABCO trainees were broadly expected to pursue distinct career pathways, which included gaining retention in current role or employment elsewhere, self-employment and entrepreneurship or career-focused further learning including vocational training.
“Mr Speaker, in line with the pathways set above, as an exit arrangement, some of the trainees were offered permanent employment by the lead agencies before the expiration of their three-year tenure. Therefore, as part of the exit plan, the management of NABCO has continued its engagement with the lead Module Implementation Partners to complete their talent needs assessments and offer available vacancies to qualified and deserving trainees,” she noted.
In her view, these should lead to further employment into some of the institutions with the trainees, namely the Ghana Revenue Authority, Ghana Education Service, Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service, Ministry of Communications, and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, among others.
Assurance
She said NABCO would continue to collaborate with other agencies and programmes to provide entrepreneurship support to those trainees among the 67,657 with viable and innovative business ideas to become entrepreneurs.
She added that collaboration is currently ongoing with the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme and the Ghana Enterprise Agency under the ‘YouStart’.
She indicated that all other trainees were being prepared through the transition into sustainable employment opportunities or their chosen career pathways outlined earlier.
NABCO is a flagship project initiated by the New Patriotic Party government, which started with the direct recruitment of 100,000 tertiary graduates, some of whom had been unemployed for nearly a decade.
It had the goal of improving public service delivery through temporary job creation under a structure that allowed for a 36-month programme, including six months’ probation, 24-month work placement and six-month exit preparation.
All enrolled trainees applied through the seven module vehicles of the scheme: Education Ghana, Heal Ghana, Feed Ghana, Revenue Ghana, Digitise Ghana, Civic Ghana and Enterprise Ghana.
