The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) is calling on the government for a structured formula for the upward adjustment of the national service allowance.

Management of the National Service Scheme on Sunday, July 23, 2023, announced it had secured approval from government for an upwards adjustment of monthly allowances for National Service Personnel from GHC559.04 to GHC 715.57 backdated to January 2023.

This follows prolonged protests and calls since the beginning of last year for its increment.

However, speaking to Starr News, the NUGS President, Dennis Appiah Larbi-Ampofo disclosed that the increment does not match their proposed figure.

Mr Larbi-Ampofo added that instituting a structured adjustment formula would erase the periodic prolonged advocacy to get the allowances increased that are needless.

“If you look at the expenditure of service personnel it would have been fine if we had gotten to the 800 cedis mark we had pleaded for. But at this point what our focus is now is that we don’t want to travel 5 years again before service allowances are increased again. We are calling on the government to institute a structured formula for increasing NSS allowance. If this happens it would save us from having to go through lengthy advocacy, pleading, negotiations before NSS allowances are increased”, he stated.

Mr. Larbi-Ampofo further proposed the increase be adjusted in line with the times.

“The money is already not enough so if the increments are not in tandem with the prevailing economic conditions, this makes lives unbearable for service persons."

“All we are calling for is a structured formula of increasing NSS allowances, so we don’t need to go so long a time before NSS allawa are increased”, he concluded