EXPOSING
THEIR CRASSITUDE OVER NABCO AND TELLING THE STORY OF THE NATION’S GRADUATES
By
Iddi Muhayu-Deen
When they were in government, for good EIGHT (8) years, they did very little to better the lot of the nation's unemployed youth particularly graduates whose numbers were running in hundreds of thousand, if not in millions. Meanwhile, it was during their reign that the menace of graduate unemployment reached an all-time crescendo, becoming a national malaise and a blot on the very conscience of the nation. The narrative of the Ghanaian graduate was only becoming worse at each passing moment.
After all the University hustles; after spending some four years
of their lives at the University having already gone through basic and
secondary education hustles; after paying all the astronomical fees; after
studying very hard to pass their exams and graduating successfully, this was
what they had to show. All they could give back to their families that had
spent so much in their education, is joblessness and hopelessness. Their
expectation of securing jobs in the country had become a complete mirage. These
graduates had become a burdensome load on their families again.
Some of them had to defy the odds and went into menial jobs.
Others, who could not withstand the economic hardship occasioned by
government's manifest incompetence at the time, had to leave the shores of
Ghana either as stowaways or preferred to join terrorist organizations like
ISIS. At least, we have undisputed evidence that about ten
of these young graduates of our country including Nazir Alema, Abubakar
Mohammed, Abdul Rafik, Shakira Mohammed and six others were widely reported to
have been recruited into ISIS. They just couldn’t withstand the untold hardship
visited on them by the governing political elite.
This was how bad the story of the Ghanaian graduates had become.
And in their quest to make their voice heard, they came together, and formed an
Association of Unemployed Graduates (AUG), the first of its kind, not only in
the history of Ghana but also in Africa and indeed the World. It still didn't
help matters. They had no one to look up to, except, of course, the State,
acting through the NDC government at the time. Unfortunately, the then Ghanaian
leader, President John Dramani Mahama, said he had become a “dead goat” playing
Daddy Lumba's "yen tie obiaa's song" everywhere he went to.
And as if his government hadn't done enough, they again placed a
complete EMBARGO on public sector recruitment following a bailout agreement
they entered into with the IMF as a result of their mismanagement of the
Ghanaian economy. In the words of President Mahama, this move was necessary for
policy credibility; essentially confirming the suspicion of Ghanaians that his
government had lost anything credible.
Since the public sector had become a "no go area", the
only option left for these graduates was the private sector. But unfortunately
for them, the private sector was perhaps, even more problem-ridden and had
virtually collapsed due to government's inability to arrest the 4-year
debilitating dumsor crisis compelling many businesses to lay off more and more
workers. That was the story of Ghanaian graduates under the John Mahama-led NDC
government. How sad and pathetic!!
But the good news is that we now have a listening government
that has shown demonstrable commitment to changing this sad narrative to give
hope to these graduates. Indeed, one of the many initiatives of this Nana
Addo-Bawumia government, to better the lot of graduates is the much talked
about Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) which has just taken off providing job
opportunities to some 100,000 graduates. It is the first time in the history of
this country that a government is rolling out such a comprehensive and
masterful job-creation package targeted at none other but the nation's
graduates, a lot of whom have been sitting idle for years.
What is even more refreshing is that NABCO is not only providing
employment avenues to these graduates but also a fine opportunity for them to
get skill-training, job experience and build their capacity in order to enhance
their employability in the labour market and also make them self-enterprising
post NABCO. I doff my hat for all the persons in government that played
instrumental role to make this NABCO Project a reality, particularly Dr. Ibrahim
Anyass, the CEO of NABCO, whom I describe as the greatest revelation of this NPP
government in recent times. You just can’t help but admire this fine gentleman
for all the good reasons. I am not surprised he is coming from the Office of
the Vice President, where COMPETENCE gets its true and real meaning.
On what is in stock for our brother and sisters who have
subscribed to NABCO, it is worth acknowledging that while the monthly stipend
of GHc700 for each beneficiary may not be enough, they, themselves, have been
quick to admit that it is much better than sitting at home and getting “rotten”.
Certainly, it is better than living a jobless life for years and not having an
opportunity to own a payslip at the end of every month. In any case, beyond the
GHc700, is the issue of building their capacity and increasing their employable
skills to help enhance the dignity and self-esteem of the country’s graduates. What
more can government do?
Again, following the ban on public sector employment as a direct
result of the IMF deal with the previous John Mahama government, which deal is
still subsisting, government’s hands are tight and cannot do any mass
recruitment into the sector. Under the circumstances, it would only take a
competent government to think outside the box and come out with a bold
intervention like NABCO.
This is what the NDC does not and CANNOT understand. But, I am
not sure it is their fault and so, I entreat the nation’s graduates who had
suffered so much social injustice under the NDC’s reign to forgive them. I
entreat the 100,000 NABCO beneficiaries as well as their families and indeed
the rest of the nation to forgive our NDC friends; for it is not their fault. A
political party that cannot think beyond incompetence and create-loot-share
schemes like the Woyomes, the bus branding, the SADAs, and the GYEEDAs can certainly
NOT understand a novelty like NABCO. But their manifest deficiency should not
prevent us from being CITIZENS for the love of our Motherland.
Assalamu alaik
Iddi
Muhayu-Deen
Free to share...
No comments:
Post a Comment