Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has paid a surprise visit to the offices of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to evaluate the ongoing interviews with applicants for the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO). 

Dr Bawumia also interacted with applicants waiting to take their turn before the five-member panel made up of representatives from Labour, the National Service Secretariat and other key stakeholders.

Vice President Bawumia, who sat through an interview and heard at first hand the challenges faced by unemployed graduates in their job search, later interacted with applicants waiting to appear before the panel. 

He urged them to put their best foot forward in the competition for places in the 100,000 NABCO jobs market.

President Nana Akufo-Addo launched the NABCO programme in Kumasi on May Day this year as an initiative by the government to provide employment for 100,000 unemployed graduates this year.

The programme will initially operate seven modules designed to meet the pressing needs of the nation while providing jobs for the teeming youth who have received tertiary education but are struggling to find jobs.

The beneficiaries will be engaged for three years, and they are expected to earn a monthly stipend of ¢700 each.

So far, 147,000 people applied nationwide, and 137,000 had been interviewed as at noon on Wednesday in all 254 districts nationwide. The Accra Metro has interviewed 1,319 of the 1,700 applications received. 

Speaking to the media, the Vice President explained the rationale behind the implementation of NABCO.

“This whole exercise is really to fulfil the vision of the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as far as job creation is concerned. We have many policies and initiatives that we want to use to address the high level of employment. 

"The President has brought this initiative, the Nation Builders Corps, where we are going to hire 100,000 graduates across the country.

"I know that so far, over the past six weeks a lot of interviews have taken place in all 254 districts. As of today, 137,000 applicants have been interviewed.

One of the applicants during his interview

“We also are making provision for persons with disability in the next couple of days, so that we don’t leave them behind. We intend to tackle the issue of graduate unemployment head-on.”

The Vice President urged the applicants to support Government’s vision of accelerated, a holistic national development which includes every member of the Ghanaian society.

In a related development, the Chief Executive of NABCO has revealed that Special arrangements have been made for Persons With Disability (PWD) who cannot speak but have applied for placement under the Nation Builders Corps to be interviewed.

According to Dr Ibrahim Anyars, this special arrangement is for persons who require assistance with sign language, with an expert in sign language present at the interview to help in translation.

The interviews will take place at all 10 regional capitals on Thursday and Friday.