NABCO Was A Good Initiative But Payment Issues Derailed Its Objectives – Former Trainee

A former trainee of the NABCo programme, Ishmael Batoma, has said although the programme was a good initiative, issues with the payment of trainees’ stipends derailed its intended benefits.

Speaking on The Lowdown on GhanaWeb TV, Batoma explained that because of payment delays, most trainees who did not have alternative sources of income, were not able to go to work regularly, sometimes for weeks.

This, he said, made it difficult for some trainees to get the needed skills and experience to make them more employable as the Nations Builder’s Corps (NABCO) programme sought to do.

“When it comes to payment issues, it started from the beginning … in fact when I started work, for five months I was not paid.

“It was really difficult. I because I know trainees who stopped coming to work for a number of weeks and even with the initial payment delay it wasn’t just that… subsequent pay did not come on time … sometimes it would come after two months, sometimes after 3 months and for those periods most trainees did not come to work,” he told the host of the show Nii Akwei Ismail Akwei.

The former NABCO trainee, however, noted that because of the nature of their work, some trainees like himself, were getting some income from the agencies they worked with, which made it possible for them to relatively enjoy the benefit of the programme.

“I never regret joining NABCo, through NABCo I have gotten news skills and I have learnt a lot,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of the Nation Builders Corps (NABCo) programme, Dr Ibrahim Anyass, has urged trainees to remain patient as the government works to secure them permanent employment.

“Government has largely, throughout the three years kept its side of the bargain. So I will entreat the trainees who are still on the programme to bear with the processes.

“… avoid doing and engaging in behaviours that may likely stampede their chances with the very people we negotiating to find them employment,” Myjoyonline.com quoted the CEO.