As part of the saving privileges that youth enjoy in Ghana, the NABCO recruitment has been a major frontier. The programme remains one of the government's initiatives that graduates are so grateful for. This is based on the fact that it has really been of help in combating the menace of unemployment in the country. NABCO which stands for the Nation Builders Corps is a platform that the government aims at employing 100,000 graduates. These people, in turn, would work in helping to solve major challenges in service delivery in the public sectors such as agriculture, education, and health. Others include governance, revenue collection and mobilization and technology in the country. So, in this article, we look at various facts that you need to know about the programme as well as the latest news on it based on the last recruitment updates.

The establishment of NABCO is part of the government's effort in combating unemployment among graduates in the country. The major objectives of the initiative are enumerated below:

To provide temporal employment opportunities to most of the unemployed university graduates;
Create a platform where graduates can improve their skills so as to become employable while they transition into permanent employment;
A medium to help in bettering public service delivery and develop government revenue mobilization;
It serves to provide the needed infrastructure to improve access to basic public services.

NABCO latest news roundup

Having made the eligibility list after all the NABCO recruitment exercise that the applicants went through, the NABCO team set the 1st of November 2018 as the official date when the trainees would resume work. Based on the news update posted on the official NABCO website, it was stated that the Secretariat, on Friday 26th October, 2018, began the process of placing trainees to various modules. NABCO modules are about different institutions and agencies where the short-listed candidates for the programme are expected to work.

From a total of 44,366 candidates that were placed across the country, 29,407 were attached with the Ghana Education Service while 6,574 were sent to the Ministry of Health. More so, a total of 1,487 went to GIFEC, 484 to the National Identification Authority while 5,813 were sent to work at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Out of the remaining successful candidates, 78 of them were attached to the Inter Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining while the remaining 439 were posted to the NABCO offices across the country as Research and Training Corp.

Sequel to this, as published on the NABCO news page on their official website, the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, is confident in the achievement of the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) progamme. He did this while he was declaring the one hundred thousand young men and women recruited for work on Wednesday, 17th October, 2018 during an event at the Black Star Square, Accra. The president gladly said that the seeds for Ghana’s growth and future have been planted in the National Builders Corps programme.

Furthermore, the president went on to assure us that the NABCO trainees would get engaged in a work and learning programme environment that is well structured. By implication, out of every four weeks, the trainees would have a week dedicated to acquiring soft, future employability, and work readiness skills. With this, the trainees would acquire 36 weeks of solid training and value addition within the time-frame of their work with NABCO. At least, this step will help them to transition effectively into their permanent work.

However, he stressed the need for the newly recruited trainees to always bear in mind the need to do their best in imparting their community and the country as a whole. Then, he told them that "your monthly GH¢700 is not free money and you must earn every pesewa of it which I’m confident you’ll do". This is really a call to work and not a matter of fun on the part of the trainees.

Facts to note about NABCO recruitment 2018

While adoption into the NABCO programme is not automatic, the short-listed candidates followed a set of processes that were outlined by the NABCO team for the 2018 recruitment exercise. Some of which are discussed below:

1. NABCO registration criteria

As much as the government would have love to absorb every graduate in the country, there are limited resources to cater for the needs of everyone. Every candidate that merited the NABCO list were expected to produce a number of documents and also possess certain things. Although, any citizen of Ghana who has successfully completed their degree and diploma courses at Ghanaian accredited tertiary institutions stood a chance to be chosen for the NABCO Ghana. These criteria were part of the yardsticks that were used to short-list candidates for the programme, and they include the following:

Having a valid Email address;
A passport sized photo;
PDF scanned copy of highest academic certificate;
GPS address in Ghana District residence;
National Service Scheme (NSS) Pin;
License number and pin for heath module applicants;
National Identification document which could be in the form of an official passport, a NHIS card, National ID card or voters card;
SSNIT number;
E-zwich card number.

2. Follow the NABCO application process

The fact remains that the above-mentioned criteria are core and were met by those who eventually applied to the NABCO programme. After all of those had been gotten, the prospective candidates were expected to follow the application process. This process involved them logging in to the official website of NABCO, filling in their basic information and at the same time complete the Google Captcha. After these, they were expected to key in their contact details in case of information dissemination as well as their employment details. Once they have confirmed that all the information is correct, they were to submit and print the receipt which they would keep in case they are called up for the NABCO interview.

3. Choose within NABCO modules

While prospective candidates were given the sole privilege to choose their module, NABCO expected that any module of choice must be within the seven categories which they have highlighted. These categories include Civic Ghana, Revenue Ghana, Educate Ghana, Enterprise Ghana, Digitize Ghana, Heal Ghana and Feed Ghana modules of the programme. Based on these, short-listed candidates were given the opportunity to work with various institutions and sectors. These are based on their candidates' selected choice of module and as deemed fit by the recruitment team.

4. Meet the requirements of the module of choice

As spelt out on their official website, the NABCO management board expected that applicants must have obtained a post-secondary education with a diploma or degree relevant to their preferred module. Specifically, they expected the following:

Those applying for Educate Ghana must major in education, science, computer science, engineering, and mathematics.
Candidates applying for Heal Ghana should be graduates with healthcare training. Consequently, they encouraged trained nurses, midwives, medical laboratory technicians, pharmacy technicians and others within that health category to apply.
Then, anyone interested in Feed Ghana should be a graduate with a certificate, diploma or degree in agricultural disciplines and food sciences.
Those who would apply for Civic Ghana can be graduates with a discipline in any of the accredited tertiary institutions in Ghana.
More so, anyone who is interested in applying for Revenue Ghana should also be a graduate of any discipline from a recognised and accredited tertiary institutions in the country.
Applicants putting in for Digitize Ghana can as well be a graduate of any discipline. The only thing is they strongly encourage that such must possess an ICT background.
The Enterprise Ghana is also open to all graduates of any discipline within accredited tertiary institutions in Ghana.

5. Pass the NABCO interview questions

Even after prospective candidates have applied for the NABCO programme, one of the standards set is that short-listed candidates would be scheduled for an interview. While the interview is part of the prerequisites for selection, candidates were expected to do their best in terms of preparation to pass it. During the interview session, a host of questions were asked and some of the likely ones include a little information about the applicants and their areas of strength. They could also be asked questions including why they think they should be selected, the plans or goals the applicants have for themselves and many others.

6. NABCO update

Every information required about NABCO postings and other activities were expected to be gotten on their official website. They required that prospective applicants should constantly visit their website and pay attention to the news so as to stay update on issues relating to their application and short-listing as the case may be.

Without doubt, the NABCO programme has really been effective. It has also recorded a huge success based on the objectives for which the initiative is set up. The number of short-listed trainees that have been posted to different public sectors and the plans by the government to invest in building their capacity is a major success worth commending. However, while some graduates hope that the set number of candidates chosen per exercise would be increased, the short-listed trainees should not see the programme as an end in itself also. They should value the opportunity it provides them to sharpen their employability skill while they make effort and watch out for other employment opportunities in different organisations in the country.