Business News of Thursday, 18 October 2018

Source: 3news.com

NABCO can’t solve Ghana’s rising unemployment problem – Dr. Kwabena Donkor

NABCO recruits at their passing out ceremony on Wednesday. NABCO recruits at their passing out ceremony on Wednesday.

The Ranking Member on Employment Dr. Kwabena Donkor says the Nation Builder’s Corps (NABCO) cannot solve the high unemployment rate in the country, which described as structural.

In his view, the programme, which has seen some 100,000 graduates, get a three-year employment is only a short-term measure.

“Ghana does not need NABCO now because it is a short cabinet measure and as it is now, we do not need a short cabinet measure. We cannot solve the employment problem of the country using temporary job programs,” he said on 3FM sunrise morning show.

NABCO was launched by the president as part of government’s initiative to provide jobs for the country’s unemployed graduates.

The central focus is to create employment avenues and opportunities for young graduates from accredited tertiary institutions and enhance the dignity and self-esteem of the country’s graduates, as well as present them with added benefits of efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of some essential public services.

The seven modules under NABCO are meant to help address the challenges facing the nation’s most pressing sectors while providing jobs to graduates who are unable to find jobs partly due to a ban on public sector employment by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

They have been put on Civic Ghana, Revenue Ghana, Educate Ghana, Enterprise Ghana, Digitize Ghana, Heal Ghana and Feed Ghana modules of the programme.

Dr. Donkor observed there was something wrong with Ghana’s economy, saying “The fundamentals of our economy is misaligned. You do not solve the rising unemployment challenges with temporary ad hoc measures”.

He said the manufacturing sector, which provides the biggest opportunity for employment, is not growing in the country.