NABCO prepares first batch of beneficiaries to exit

The Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) is readying itself to facilitate the successful exit and seamless transition of the first batch of beneficiaries into permanent employment.

It said already, 11,000 personnel had transitioned into their chosen future careers since deployment and were doing well.

Addressing day two of the results fair in Accra yesterday, the Head of Accounts for the NABCO, Mr Emmanuel Aidoo, said NABCO’s exit plan was to ensure that beneficiaries did not become a burden on their families, society and the nation at large but were well positioned to pursue retention in existing roles, self-employment and career-focused further learning.

He said part of the plan had been instituted in partnership with the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Centre to prepare the exit for beneficiaries.

The academy, named the Skills and Talent Academy (STA), is to prepare trainees for the job market after their two-and-half-year stint with the scheme.

Mr Aidoo said the academy would provide specialist training opportunities that would add value to the basic qualifications of the personnel both in school and on the programme.

He said ultimately, the exit plan would deliver the requisite value-addition to the entry qualifications and competencies of all trainees, thus, making them both work ready and career-driven in their future pursuits.

NABCO is a social intervention programme introduced by the government to help reduce graduate unemployment.

The three-year programme was introduced in May 2018, giving a first batch of 100,000 unemployed, temporary and experienced building job opportunities.

School Feeding and LEAP

The Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Ms Cynthia Morrison, also announced that the ministry had committed itself to serving only locally produced rice or Ghana rice under the School Feeding Programme because of its high nutritional value as well as helping to boost the local economy.

She said the programme, which was giving employment to many women and increasing children’s interest in school would prioritise the serving of local and nutritious dishes in 2020.

She said as part of efforts to ensure that no child was deprived of the right to education because of lack of food, plans were being put in place to replicate the programme nationwide.

Ms Morrison said it had come to the ministry’s attention that children preferred to be in schools that were beneficiaries of the programme and, therefore, some had to walk miles to access such schools.

She also said that efforts were in place to sustain and expand the ministry’s Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme due to its positive impact on the people.

The Minister of Health, Mr Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, said it was the government’s vision to deliver Universal Health Coverage that prioritised quality healthcare delivery.

He said as part of efforts to deliver on UHC, the government introduced a number of interventions such as the medical drone delivery network project dubbed “Fly-To-Save-A-Life” as a 24-hour health delivery system to enhance on-demand delivery of medical supplies to communities.

He said emergency services would be improved with the purchase of 307 additional ambulances under the government’s One Constituency, One Ambulance policy.

While calling on the public to check the expiry dates of products, particularly, consumables on the market, he said the number of unwholesome products removed from the market to enhance public health increased by 960 per cent due to intensified market surveillance.

On infrastructural development, he said a number of health facilities were provided, including five polyclinics located at Oduman in the Ga West municipality, Bortianor in the Ga South municipality; Ashaiman in the Ashaiman municipal Ogbojo in the Adentan municipality and Ada in the Ada East District.

Mr Agyeman-Manu also mentioned the expansion and total refurbishment of the Tetteh Quarshie Memorial Hospital in Mampong into an ultra-modern health facility, the construction of a new district hospital in Aburi at the site of the Kom Presbyterian Clinic to replace the facility, which is said to be the first-ever health facility in Ghana.

He said the ministry undertook a number of other interventions including improvement of health management, employing more professionals, enhancing health education and expanding infrastructure.

Source: Graphic.com.gh