NABCO, A Failed Policy or a Solution to Graduates Unemployment?

NABCO, A Failed Policy or a Solution to Graduates Unemployment?

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By the year 2016, the NDC had gone to seek Policy Credibility at the IMF. They returned with harsh policies including the placement of embargo on public sector employment and Ghana was building a backlog of unemployed graduates.

There was a ban on the recruitment of Teachers, Nurses, and Graduates from the Polytechnics and Universities. Eventually, an Unemployed Graduates Association of Ghana was formed.

The teaming unemployed graduates soon hit the streets in protest against the embargo on their lives and destinies. In response, the then President indicated he was not a magician to create jobs nor put monies in their pockets.

Working for an hour became a job and the solution was for graduates to cut grasses and gather stones. Unemployment had reached unprecedented levels.

Millions of Ghanaian graduates wake up each day to the soul-destroying reality of joblessness and they spend their energies looking for non-existent jobs. was no longer the key to success. Such was the life of graduates under John Dramani Mahama and the NDC prior to the 2016 elections.

At this juncture, Ghanaian graduates needed hope and a savior. Akufo-Addo, then Presidential candidate for the NPP, emerged and proposed a better alternative to the Unemployed Graduates Association which he termed the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) to address the high rate of unemployment.

On 1st May 2018, President Akufo-Addo launched the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO), marking the beginning of a process to recruit 100,000 graduates across the country under seven modules.

The objective was to provide temporary employment, improve skills and employability, improve public service delivery, improve revenue mobilization, and improve access to basic public services.

Trainees were to be paid a monthly stipend of Ghc 700 each for 3 years, by which time some are expected to have been gainfully employed while the rest are absorbed into the public sector.

Essentially, the programme came to an end in October 2021 and for these three years, the only major challenges were the intermittent delays in the payment of the monthly stipend, nonpayment of stipend to some trainees under the Heal Ghana model, and the yet-to-be permanently employed trainees who have been given an extension of one year on the programme.

Nevertheless, NABCO trainees have duly received a cumulative amount of some Ghc 25,200 each in stipends for 36 months (3 years). While some have married from this, others have established their own businesses, while some others have furthered their education. But most importantly, all trainees now boast of relevant work experience which is a prerequisite to gaining employment anywhere in this world.

NABCO has proven to be a solution in the 3 years of its implementation. Trainees earned a decent living, gained relevant experience on the job, some got permanent employment, while the rest are waiting to be recruited into the public sector.

Governments over the years have tried to deal with graduate unemployment but non has made a better positive impact like NABCO.

The question still remains, is NABCO, A Failed Policy or a Solution to Graduates Unemployment? Let us hear your opinions in the comment below.

NABCO, A Failed Policy or a Solution to Graduates Unemployment?

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