The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has urged unemployed graduates to sign up to the Nation Builders Corps (NaBCo) programme to assist with the public sector service delivery in the country.

According to him, the programme, aside giving graduates the opportunity to help build the country, would also enhance their dignity and self-esteem.

Launching the NaBCo programme in Kumasi as part of the May Day celebrations, President Akufo-Addo noted that central to the objective of the programme is to engage the raw talents of unemployed graduates and equip them with skills through a process of value addition and training.

“As a scheme, NaBCO’s central focus will be to create employment avenues and opportunities for young people who have diplomas or degrees from accredited tertiary institutions. NaBCo will enhance the dignity and self-esteem of our graduates and will also present them with the added benefit of efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of essential services,” he said.

The President was optimistic that “by the time NaBCo trainees exit the scheme, the requisite work ethics, skills and experience often being the barrier for their employment as fresh graduates would have been resolved.”

The NaBCo programme which is aimed at addressing livelihood empowerment and graduate unemployment is expected to hire some 100,000 graduates.

The programme is focused on solving public service delivery in the health, education, agriculture and sanitation sectors as well as drive revenue mobilization and collection.

Successful applicants would be employed under seven modules; namely, Civic Ghana, Revenue Ghana, Enterprise Ghana, Educate Ghana, Heal Ghana, Feed Ghana and Digitise Ghana.

Placement in the NaBCo will last for a period of 3 years under a stipend of GH¢700 every month.

President Akufo-Addo noted further that every constituency would have a stated allocation out of the 100,000 available slots to ensure equity and fairness.

Commenting on the allowance to be given to each employee, the President noted that, “this is a modest but important beginning towards the restoration of their dignity.”

He, therefore, urged all unemployed graduates who qualify to enter the scheme to cease the opportunity.

“NaBCo is yours… be proud to say, I am a nation builder and this country will be thankful to you too for rising up to the challenge,” he stated.

Application process and criteria

To enrol onto the NaBCo, prospective applicants would have to log on to the programme’s website, www.nabco.gov.gh to fill out application forms at no cost or charge.

According to President Akufo-Addo, the online application is necessary to optimise efficiency in the application process as well as serve as an opportunity to check for other available national data basis to avoid fraud.

The application process begins on June 1, 2018 and ends on July 1, 2018.

Selected applicants would be deployed to commence work by August 1, 2018.

Prospective applicants should be citizens of Ghana as well as completed national service.