NABCo: Finance Minister Announces End To Employment Initiative On September 2022

• The Nation Builders Corp will cease to exist from September 1, 2022, the finance minister has announced
• Ken Ofori-Atta has said the youth employment programme has engaged a total of 100,000 young graduates since its inception in 2018
• The minister also told Parliament on Monday that some GH¢2.2 billion has been invested in the employment initiative in the four years that it has been in existence

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has announced that the Nation Builders Corp (NaBCo) programme will end on September 1, 2022, after a shaky four-year run.

Delivering the 2022 midyear budget review on Monday, July 25, 2022, the minister revealed that the youth employment initiative has engaged 100,000 young graduates and prepared many of them for the world of work.

“So far we have invested approximately GH¢2.2 billion. As they exit, the current cohort on the programme are encouraged to take advantage of the YouStart initiative and other existing programmes in our drive to Build an Entrepreneurial Nation,” the minister told Parliament.

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NABCo was rolled out in 2018 as a policy to train young graduates to access funds for their business and train them for the job market.

But in recent times, the policy has been dogged by complaints of non-payment of allowance for beneficiaries.

Hundreds of beneficiaries hit the streets in February this year to protest the government’s failure to pay their allowance, which had been in arrears for six months.

The government initially engaged the NABCo beneficiaries for three years at a monthly stipend of GH¢700 each. However, in 2021 when the programme was scheduled to end, pleas from some of the beneficiaries compelled the government to extend it one more year.

Road tolls return on selected roads

Meanwhile, in a related development, the finance minister has announced the return of road tolls on some selected roads in the country after a bold decision last year to scrap them.

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YEN.com.gh reported earlier that while presenting the 2022 midyear budget review to Parliament on Monday, July 25, 2022, Ken Ofori-Atta said the tolls will be re-introduced under a Public Private Partnership deal.

"Under the Ministry of Roads and Highways, Public Private Partnership (PPP) programme for road infrastructure, the Design, Build, Finance, Operate, and Maintain (DBFOM) Accra – Tema Motorway and Extension PPP Project (27.7km) is at the procurement stage. Site works are expected to commence in September 2022," he told Parliament on Monday.

Source: YEN.com.gh