Policy think tank, IMANI Ghana, is of the view that government’s decision to set up what it calls a Nation Builders Corps (NBC), which seeks to employ over 100,000 graduates with a budgetary allocation of Ghc600 million, is just a duplication of the mandate of the National Service Scheme.<\/p>\n
According to the think tank, although the mode of financing the programme has not yet been put out, the GHc600 million set aside to pay wages of graduates who would be captured under the NBC is too much and a “waste of money.”<\/p>\n
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, whilst presenting the 2018 budget statement in Parliament last Wednesday, announced the policy, projecting that the initiative will give jobs to\u00a0100,000 graduates<\/strong><\/a><\/span>\u00a0by the close of 2018.<\/p>\n [contextly_sidebar id=”P8GgtHk85iB9MjuodFoI4ZBoCxUBbKsd”]But President of IMANI Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe, in an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show<\/strong> on Tuesday, said the amount can be pumped into the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan (NIEP) or better still the agricultural sector.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are yet to see the details of the financing arrangement, but what we\u2019ve seen so far unfortunately may be going to a lot of sectors that have been in existence long ago. It means that if people are going to employed to be taking care of our healthcare institutions, I don\u2019t know if they will be doing extensive services in education because that has also been mentioned and revenue generation which have all not been clearly defined. It appears to us that these are not necessarily different from what the national service really does.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo in a way, we were thinking that to spend a hefty sum of almost GHc600 million to create jobs that are transient jobs basically, and not necessarily adding to the productive capabilities of the country, looks as if it is a waste of money,\u201d Mr. Cudjoe added.<\/p>\n IMANI\u2019s President also explained that, his team believes the NBC budgetary allocation could have been used to support the NEIP, saying \u201cwe think that is about the most truly entrepreneurial entity, I mean let\u2019s do something and get money and get out of the way.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe would have thought that the GHc60 million that went to NEIP could have seen some complementarity with this nation builders corps. Truly if it were to be entrepreneurial, it also means it has to be competitive. Unfortunately, these funds that will be used as payment for graduates who will be employed in these sectors are not going to be competitively sought for, and we feel that is not truly entrepreneurial,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Policy incoherence <\/strong><\/p>\n IMANI Ghana had in its assessment of the 2018 budget statement described the NBC as a \u201creflection of policy incoherence, and a myopic approach<\/strong><\/a><\/span> to solving the graduate unemployment challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe focus of the 2018 budget is to revamp agriculture for food sustainability and feeding the numerous factories to be established under the 1-district-1-factory policy.\u00a0 Interestingly, the amount allocated to the Ministry of Agriculture, which is annually inadequate, was cut by 21 percent. The decrease is likely to affect productivity outcomes in the sector. However, the elephant in the room is the ageing cocoa and food crop farmers and the low interest of the youth to venture into agriculture. One would have thought a policy to engage graduates across the country would centre on finding innovative solutions to encourage graduates into agriculture,\u201d the think tank said in its report.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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