Chief Executive Officer of the National Builders Corps (NABCo), Dr. Ibrahim Anyars
Chief Executive Officer of the National Builders Corps (NABCo), Dr. Ibrahim Anyars has said that the programme has been successful because it achieved its aim of amplifying the employability profile of graduates to be legible for employment after their exit point.
“The scheme is very successful because all the schemes that we set to do and the mandates stipulated by the President has been achieved. It has been a great success for this administration.”
The scheme he stated, also provided jobs and reduced unemployment in the country.
Speaking in an interview with Berla Mundi on TV3 New Day, the CEO further stated that the scheme addressed issues like work experience, professionalism, interview values, and other qualities that kept beneficiaries away from the job market.
He added that these have enriched the employable skills of beneficiaries who are yet to be employed in either the public or private sector.
Mr. Ibrahim indicated that beneficiaries have gone through career guidance transitions and the scheme has generated and defined clear career pathways of beneficiaries.
“The scheme was a structured partnership and a structured learning programme to assist graduates exit with career pathways and help in their exit profiles,” he said.
Addressing the questions raised to the permanency of trainees, the CEO of the scheme mentioned that trainees were supposed to be prioritised for job opportunities especially in the public sector, however, some trainees failed to follow required procedures for enrollment into various organisations.
“For, every beneficiary who enrolled appropriately will have access to a personal detail of even their allowances,” he added.
Ibrahim Anyars also mentioned that most NABCo beneficiaries also transitioned to permanent employment into public and private sectors, adding that, it is, therefore, a misrepresentation to suggest that some trainees left the scheme to stay idle at home due to inconsistent payment of their allowances.
“Most NABCo beneficiaries transitioned into permanent employment in the public sector. Others also had the private sector… It is quite a misrepresentation to suggest that someone just leave the scheme and sit at home and do nothing.”
He further stated that there was a cut-off point for employment of the scheme and that influenced the decision of ceasing recruitment in the third year of the scheme.
Speaking on concerns raised by Heal Ghana, one of the modules of the program, he explained that payments were ceased to beneficiaries because reports from the Ghana Health Service (GHS) indicated that all qualified nurses have gained permanent jobs so they were no longer beneficiaries of the scheme.
“The feeling was that all heal Ghana trainees would have left upon the conversations we had with the Ghana Health Service until we realized that there were still some trainees who had other qualifications.
“We stopped payment to Heal Ghana, and we requested for data from the Ghana Health Service and through the data, we realised that all qualified nurses have left us so we shouldn’t pay any qualified nurse.”
He added that “we later realised that there were quite a few of the Heal Ghana trainees that have been unreported in other regions and having employments but still on the scheme.”
Mr. Ibrahim Anyars reiterated that the majority of beneficiaries have gained experience in skill development which makes them viable for job opportunities worldwide.
The CEO also revealed that 27,000 people were also employed in the Ghana Education Service (GES) which is a subsidy of the educational module of the scheme.
The National Builders Corps (NABCo) was launched on Tuesday, May 1, 2018, by President Akufo-Addo to tackle youth unemployment in the country.
In its first, the initiative absorbed 100,000 youth to assist in service delivery in seven prioritized areas in the public sector.
These areas are Education Ghana, Feed Ghana, Heal Ghana, Revenue Ghana, Civic Ghana, Digitize Ghana, and Enterprise Ghana.
The initiative also absorbed diploma and degree holders from accredited tertiary institutions.
The President in a speech on the day of the launch assured that by the end of the three-year period, “the requisite work readiness skills and experience often deemed as a barrier to their employment as fresh graduates, would have been resolved.”
According to the President, over 49,000 trainees have been absorbed.
The initiative ended on Sunday, October 31, 2021, and beneficiaries are lamenting of no permanent jobs provided for them.