100,000 graduates to be employed in 2018 – Finance Minister

The government has announced the creation of a Nation Builders’ Corps (NBC), which is set to address graduate unemployment in the country.
The corps, according to the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta will employ at least 100,000 graduates in 2018.
The Minister announced this during his presentation of the 2018 budget statement on the floor of Parliament, Wednesday.
Graduate unemployment has remained the single most daunting challenge for successive governments over a long time.
According to a research conducted by the Institute of Statistical, Social, and Economic Research (ISSER), only ten percent of the country’s graduates is employed after national service.
Worse still, it takes more than ten years for some graduates to secure jobs after leaving school, the research indicated.
The finance minister said it was about time the government paid close attention to resolving what has become a national canker – unemployment.
He said dealing with the issues of poverty and unemployment is no longer an option because they are serious national security issues which must be addressed and the 2018 budget will take a bold step towards finding a lasting solution.
In conformity with the theme of the 2018 budget which is “Putting Ghana back to work,” the Finance Minister said unemployed graduates will be kept busy in 2018 with jobs in education, sanitation, health and other social intervention.
The Nation Builders’ Corps which will be housed at the office of the president as a special initiative will see the provision of employment, improved skills and ensure better government revenue mobilization across the country.
Under Teach Ghana, Clean Ghana, Heal Ghana, Feed Ghana, etc modules, the programme will train graduates and equip them with tools to become teachers, sanitation inspectors, agric extension services across the country, the minister assured.
The minister also announced key interventions in the social, economic and health sectors in order to sustain the economic growth achieved in the first year of the Akufo-Addo government.