That experience will prepare them for a great future, Mr. Charles Kwasi Dovi, Jasikan National Service Scheme (NSS) Municipal Director, has said.

He, however, bemoaned the accommodation challenges and the continuous high cost of rent that the personnel faced in the communities, especially personnel from far places.

Mr Dovi was speaking during the election of officers for the Jasikan Municipal 2022/2023 batch of the National Service Personnel Association (NASPA) in the Oti Region.

The seven-member executives are Mr. Eric Adzimah as President, Miss Christabel Bani as Vice- President, Miss Akyea Rachael Obesebea as General Secretary, and Mr. Kamardin Issaw as Financial Secretary.

The rest are Mr Francis Tsetse as Organiser, Miss Portia Dormenipui, Women Commissioner, and Christopher Djoteng Gmayan as Public Relations Officer.

While congratulating the newly elected officers, Mr Dovi appealed to the Municipal Chief Executive to engage assembly members to acquire at least a room in their electoral areas, especially the deprived areas, for service personnel.

Mr Dovi described the service programme as one of the major activities on the calendar of the Scheme to educate the personnel as the service period was a transition point to enter the field of work just after school.

He said it was important to orient the service personnel, who were the future leaders of the nation, so they would be able to fit very well into society. The Ghana National Service Scheme (GNSS) was first established by National

Redemption Council Decree 208 (1973) and in 1980; the National Service ACT 426 was passed by the Parliament of Ghana to give constitutional backing to the scheme.

The scheme applies to any person who is a citizen and has attained the age of 18 years or more after completing a tertiary institution, which required that personnel render a mandatory service for a period of a year, including a

minimum of six months military training.

Mr Dovi said the National Service Scheme is designed to enable every young Ghanaian, male and female, to have an opportunity to deploy their energies, by offering some services to communities in any part of Ghana and to help create a sense of national awareness, unity and cohesion among the country’s youth.

This, he said, would serve as a source of motivation for service personnel deployed to those areas.

Mrs. Elizabeth Kessiwaa Anim-Adjanor, Jasikan Municipal Chief Executive, advised the personnel to be punctual, respectful and have a good attitude towards work.

She asked them to be good role models for the younger ones that they are teaching.

Mr. Samuel Gyamfi, a Human Resource Director from the Jasikan Municipal Office of the Ghana Education Service, advised the personnel to avoid bad social habits and rather focus of the services they render to the nation.

The municipality has 61 Service personnel, 38 males and 23 females.

Thirty-five are deployed to the education sector, representing 57 per cent of the total number of service personnel posted to the Municipality.