100,000 youth to be employed under Nation Builders' Corps

Selected applicants under the newly launched Nation Builders' Corps (NABCO) are expected to begin work August 1, 2018 after undergoing a period of training, President Akufo-Addo has revealed.

Speaking at the official launch of the Nation Builders' Corps at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi on Tuesday May 1, 2018, the President noted that the programme will employ 100,000 youth this year.

He said that applications under the Scheme are open to all graduate citizens who have duly discharged their national service obligations and will be done strictly online to optimize efficiency.

“Placement will last for 3 years. Our commitment to job creation will not end here but will be accelerated through the 1 district 1 Factory and Planting for Food and Jobs initiatives”, President Akufo-Addo said.

President Akufo-Addo also noted that graduate unemployment has been a huge challenge in Ghana, but his administration is taking measures to deal with the situation.

“Data from the renowned Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) published in March 2017 revealed that, only 10 per cent of our graduates found jobs after the first year of completing school. That, it takes up to 10-years for the graduates to secure employment".

"The World Bank Jobs in Ghana Report published in 2016 revealed that about 48 per cent of the youth in the country, who are between the ages of 15 and 25 years, do not have jobs", the President said.

"Indeed, the situation has been worsened by the ban on public sector employment by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and I believe we all know who and what occasioned that ban".

President Akufo-Addo said “today, the number of graduates being produced by tertiary institutions have outstripped the number of available jobs”, adding, "in addition to the 100,000 that will be employed through the Nation Builders' Corps, 80,000 others will also be given jobs through the Youth Employment Agency".

The Nation Builders Corps will initially operate seven modules designed to meet the pressing needs of the nation while providing jobs for Ghanaian youth who have received tertiary education but are struggling to find jobs.

The modules include Feed Ghana, Educate Ghana, Revenue Ghana, Heal Ghana, Enterprise Ghana, the Digitize Ghana and the Governance Ghana.