Ghana launches major employment initiative

by Alex Osei-Boateng

ACCRA, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo on Tuesday launched the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO), a new government intervention to tackle graduate unemployment.

The initiative will be the vehicle to employ, this year alone, 100,000 people who hold degrees of tertiary institutions to assist in the public service delivery needs of Ghana.

Akufo-Addo said the grim story of youth unemployment has been a tragic part of the lives of Ghanaians for far too long and has been worsened in recent times by the ban placed on public sector employment by the International Monetary Fund.

He was confident that by the time NABCO trainees exit the scheme, which would last for three years, the requisite work readiness skills and experience, often deemed a barrier to their employment as fresh graduates, would have been resolved.

The trainees would earn a 700 Ghana cedis (159 U.S. dollars) stipend every month. "This is a modest but important beginning towards the restoration of their dignity," Akufo-Addo said, adding that beneficiaries would also receive continuous skills training to guide their future career paths.

Data from the University of Ghana published last year reveal that only 10 percent of Ghanaian graduates find jobs in the first year after completing school and that it takes up to ten years for the graduates to secure employment.

The selected applicants of the program are expected to commence their work by Aug. 1. Enditem