In a deliberate attempt to fight the high graduate unemployment in the country, the government has announced the setting up of a Nation Builders’ Corps (NBC) through which thousands of jobs are expected to be created for the youth.
According to the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, the Corps, which is a Special Presidential Initiative, would provide jobs to at least 100,000 graduates in 2018.
The Finance Minister, who announced the initiative when he presented the 2018 Budget Statement to Parliament today, expressed optimism that the Corps would help to facilitate sustainable job creation in the various sectors of the economy for the benefit of the unemployed graduates.
The budget statement has the theme, “Putting Ghana back to work.”
Graduate unemployment has remained the single most daunting challenge for successive governments in Ghana over the years.
According to a research conducted by the Institute of Statistical, Social, and Economic Research (ISSER), only ten percent of the country’s graduates are employed after national service.
Worse still, it takes more than ten years for some graduates to secure jobs after completing school, the research indicated.
The setting up of the Nation Builders’ Corps, the Finance Minister explained, was part of efforts by the government to consciously address the challenge of graduate unemployment to diffuse the national security threat it poses.
“Dealing with the issues of poverty and unemployment is no longer an option because they are serious national security issues which must be addressed and the 2018 budget will take a bold step towards finding a lasting solution,” he stressed.
He said in line with the theme of the 2018 budget, “unemployed graduates will be kept busy in 2018 with jobs in education, sanitation, health and other social interventions.”
The Nation Builders’ Corps would run under the Office of the President as a special initiative and would involve the provision of employment, improved skills, and ensure better government revenue mobilisation across the country.
To be operated under a number of modules such as “Teach Ghana, Clean Ghana, Heal Ghana and Feed Ghana,” the programme will train graduates and equip them with tools to become teachers, sanitation inspectors, agriculture extension services across the country.
By: Nii Adotey/adrdaily.com
