The six-week-long exercise is expected to be completed at the end of this month for applicants who excel to be engaged.

An estimated 100,000 unemployed graduates are to be employed under the initiative, which is aimed at addressing graduate unemployment in the country.

The Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, paid a visit to the offices of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) yesterday to observe the interview process.

One of the applicants, Mr Hebert Prah, whose interview session the Vice-President sat in, had stayed at home for about five years after graduating.

Dr Bawumia expressed the hope that the NaBCo would offer applicants the opportunity to gain some work experience and earn some money as they served the country.

President’s vision

He indicated that NaBCo was to fulfil the vision of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as far as job creation was concerned, adding: “We have many policies and initiatives we want to use to address the high level of unemployment in the country.”

He said provision had been made for persons with disabilities (PWDs) to be interviewed in the next couple of days, so that they were not left behind.

“This is very competitive. You need 100,000 graduates and the applicants are almost 50 per cent more than that. This is why you have to select very competent people to these positions, so that you can have a better outcome across all the modules,” he stated.

Dr Bawumia expressed delight about the seriousness the interview panel attached to the exercise, especially as they asked “very piercing questions of the candidates”.
 “I am also happy to see that the candidates are prepared and they know what they are doing,” he added.

MCE of Accra

The Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Mohammed Adjei Sowah, told the Vice-President that 381 applicants in the metropolis had not shown up.

As of the time of Dr Bawumia’s visit, 1,319 out of 1,757 graduates who applied in the Accra metropolis had been interviewed.

Giving the breakdown, Mr Sowah said out of the 360 applicants who applied for the Revenue Ghana module, 328 had been interviewed; 198 out of those who applied for the Digitise Ghana module had also been interviewed, while 157 out of 205 had also been interviewed for the Feed Ghana module.

Those who applied for the Civic Ghana module were 180, out of which 144 had been interviewed; Enterprise Ghana also had 185 interviewed out of 240 applicants, while Educate Ghana had 190 interviewed out of 240.

For Heal Ghana, 117 out of 292 applicants had been interviewed.

Background

The Nation Builders Corps, which was launched in May this year by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, is a government initiative to address the graduate unemployment in the country.

The objective of the programme is to engage raw talents of unemployed graduates and equip them with skills through a process of value addition and training.

The scheme aims at engaging 100,000 graduates under seven modules namely, Educate Ghana, Heal Ghana, Feed Ghana, Revenue Ghana, Digitise Ghana, Civic Ghana and Enterprise Ghana.

Graduates employed under NaBCo would be engaged for three years and be paid a monthly stipend of GH¢700.

The programme is opened to all Ghanaians who have completed their national service.