Applicants of the Nation Builders Corps [NABCO] have expressed their displeasure with the wear of uniform and have appealed to the government to desist the secretariat from distributing it.
According to them the uniform would be a form of emotional torture to the graduates and could create a platform for some leaders to loot and share the country’s money.
Zipporah Awuni, one of the applicants in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis bemoaned that although NABCO was not compulsory but the youth of Ghana were compelled to partake in it due to massive unemployment crashing the nation.
She lamented that graduates deserved more than the 700 stipend because university was assumed to be competitive and full of intellectuals that had the zeal of pushing the developmental agenda of the nation forward.
“Since university is considered the highest realm of education, graduates are supposed to earn more than trainees yet a trained teacher and a trained nurse will receive 1200 and 1600 at the end of the month while the graduates who didn’t receive any allowance will have to manage Gh₵700,” she lamented.
She further stated that the country has discredited the university form of education because enrolling into university meant signing your own unemployment warrant and gradually this could dissuade many parents from sending their wards to acquire highest form of education.
She insisted that parents would all be motivated to send their children to training colleges.
Isaac Afful an applicant from Tamale metro heavily criticized the Secretariat for the distribution of uniform or cloth.
He objected that the distribution of cloth would rather increase money in some of the leaders’ coffers as well as segregating the applicant, thus making it easy for people to identify the applicant and the stipend they would receive at the end of the month.
“Since NABCO is not a permanent job why will they waste resources in the printing of materials, while that money could be invested in the free uniform distribution for needy pupils in remote schools. To me, this is unnecessary; it is just a ploy for some leaders to enrich themselves as well as exposing the graduates to public ridicule,” he said.
A NABCO, applicant from greater Accra Region stated that although the current government should be applauded for this initiation yet the secretariat has failed to ensure the smooth flow of NABCO.
She said per the initial plan NABCO was supposed to kick off before the national service but due to reasons best known to the secretariat as at now no applicant has received placement adding that “it has been hawk and bull story since day one hence has even daunted the spirit of many applicants.”
However, according to the vice president Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia, the NABCO uniform was meant to promote the culture of accepting made in Ghana products with Akosombo Textile Limited in charge of producing the materials as well as boosting economic activities.
NABCO was an initiative launched on May 1, 2018 by the NPP government which aims at addressing graduate unemployment.
Central to its objective is to engage the raw talents of unemployed graduates and equip them with skills through a process of value addition and training.
The scheme is expected to employ 100,000 graduates this year under seven modules; namely educate Ghana, Heal Ghana, Feed Ghana, Revenue Ghana, Digitize Ghana, Civic Ghana and Enterprise Ghana.
Placement in the NABCO will last for a period of three years under a stipend of Gh ₵700 every month.
REPORT BY JOCELINE NATALLY CUDJOE
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