The Executive Director of National Service Scheme (NSS), Osei-Assibey Antwi, has advised National Service Personnel (NSP) in the country to use the service period as an opportunity to sharpen their skills to make them viable for the job market.

He said the Service period provides a unique year-long opportunity for NSP's to learn proper corporate governance practices, which is the major skill required by most organisations in the country.

“In this day where finding jobs has become a difficult task, I urge you to take your work seriously. Use this period to improve your competencies; learn how to start and manage your businesses, so you don’t find yourself wanting after Service,” he said.

Mr Antwi gave the advice at opening a three-day orientation programme organised for the personnel posted to the Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service.

In this orientation, personnel will be equipped with training and skills to control and manage traffic in towns and cities across the country.

Mr Antwi noted that the Urban Traffic Management Module was created and introduced by the NSS in collaboration with the Ghana Police Service in August 2015 to provide extra human resources to complement the efforts of the Police in the management of vehicular traffic in the country’s urban centres, particularly in Accra and Kumasi.

He further advised them to be disciplined, courteous, hardworking, and exhibit a high sense of professionalism wherever they would find themselves and ensure that “your actions conform to the laws of this country”, he added.

He stressed that, even though the collaboration between the NSS and Police has contributed to keeping the sanity on our roads, we need to strengthen the partnership to help commuters stay safe and alive.

At the same time, they ply the various routes to their workplaces, homes, churches and wherever they wish to go.

“We at NSS are ever prepared to engage more on this collaboration to explore several innovative ways to enhance our work and, if possible, increase the number of personnel to serve you in every nook and cranny of the country”, he emphasised.

He said the module has contributed immensely and has provided a unique opportunity for the personnel to gain skills in paramilitary policing and community service. 

He further noted that 1,889 personnel have been posted to the police MTTD from the inception of the Urban Traffic Management Module in 2015.

Out of that number, hundreds of the service personnel have been enlisted into the mainstream of the Police Service.

The NSS boss announced that over 80,000 Ghanaian students who graduated from various accredited tertiary institutions are deployed to do a one-year mandatory national service to the country every year.

The graduates he further stressed constituted a pool of resources. Therefore, there is the need for the police Administration to take advantage and request more of the personnel to be engaged in traffic management to reduce the huge vehicular congestion on our roads.

The Director-General of MTTD, DCOP Francis Aboagye Nyarko, on his part, said the Police expected that the module would expose the service personnel to police-civilian relationships and a sense of patriotism and nationalism in serving the country.

“Additionally, the module is expected to expose the national service personnel to the operations of the police service and erase the negative stereotype they might have had about the police service”, he added.

Among the personalities present at the occasion were the Head of supervision of the National Insurance Commission, Stella Jonah, Commandant of the Police Academy, and ACP Darko Offei Lomotey.