The government of Ghana says the remaining 67,000 beneficiaries of the Nation Builders Corps (NABCo) programme who have not yet secured jobs, can breathe a sigh of relief as they will not be laid off this year. 

Instead, two windows; the YouStart programme and a digital inclusion programme will gradually absorb them in batches during the next fiscal year. 

Announcing this during the presentation of the 2022 budget statement and economic policy in parliament on Wednesday, 17 November 2021, the Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, said the government will, through the initiative, support these beneficiaries to gain access to capital, training, technical skills and mentoring to enable them to launch and operate their own businesses under the initiative. 

He said: “The NABCo programme was designed as a temporary stepping stone for young graduates for a period of three years”.

“In the last three years, 100,000 young graduates have benefitted from the NABCo programme”.

“With over 33,000 trainees already securing jobs, the government will work to ensure that the remaining NABCo trainees are effectively supported to take advantage of the opportunities YouStart presents.”

NABCo was introduced by the Akufo-Addo-led administration in 2017 as part of measures to address graduate unemployment in the country.

The initiative was run under seven modules, namely Educate Ghana, Heal Ghana, Feed Ghana, Revenue Ghana, Digitize Ghana, Enterprise Ghana, and Civic Ghana.