President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said the 100,000 young men and women recruited under the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) initiative have made positive contributions to the growth and development of the country, a year after its inception.

According to President Akufo-Addo, “There is hardly any sphere of our national life in which the contribution of our young NABCO trainees is not being felt – education, agriculture, health, local government, the digitisation process, revenue mobilisation, and private sector activity.”

He stressed: “We are utilising our existing intellectual infrastructure to resolve domestic challenges, in the delivery of effective public services.”

President Akufo-Addo made this known on Thursday, 17 October 2019 when he spoke at the 1st anniversary of the launch of the NABCO programme at the National Theatre, Accra.

Citing examples of the areas in which NABCO trainees have been of tremendous assistance, President Akufo-Addo noted that 12,750 NABCO trainees are working on the National Digital Property Addressing System, which will lead to the tagging of homes across the country with a plate bearing the house number, street name and a digital address.

Again, in the fight against ‘galamsey’, over 200 NABCO trainees work with the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, with trainees being given skills in operating the surveillance drones procured, and currently working on acquiring their licences to become certified drone pilots.

“Our flagship policy for the renewal of Ghanaian agriculture dubbed the ‘Programme for Planting for Food and Jobs’, has seen NABCO trainees work in areas such as extension services, seed and fertiliser distribution, and in mechanisation,” President Akufo-Addo said.

Toward enhancing revenue mobilisation, the President told the gathering, which included Vice-President Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, that a significant boost had been witnessed with the co-opting of NABCO trainees.

“The Ghana Revenue Authority engaged nearly ten per cent of the NABCO workforce within Ghana Customs and the Domestic Tax and Revenue Division. Information from small to medium tax offices relate positive stories of increased revenues, while officers of Ghana Customs take effective control of our borders and enforcements,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo continued, “The Ministry of Finance, in partnership with Oracle Ghana, is currently building the capacity of about 100 trainees to assist with the digitisation and the management of the systems deployed under the Public Financial Management Reforms Programme.”

The Judicial Service, he said, also has some 500 NABCO trainees supplementing its workforce across the country, with a similar workforce assisting the Births and Deaths Registry toward its reform and digitisation processes.

The “One District-One Factory” initiative, and many private sector institutions have trainees being put to productive use.

“Across all the sectors of our national life are examples of such positive stories of valuable contributions by our young NABCO trainees. We owe them these opportunities to help them realise their potential. Not only does this assist with their growth, but it also helps to secure our collective future,” he added.