Ghana’s President Akufo-Addo launches revised National Service Authority

Sierra Leone Telegraph: 22 October 2024:

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has in a move representing a significant milestone in Ghana’s journey towards empowering the country’s youth, inaugurated the newly minted National Service Authority.

Established under the new NSS Act 1119, the restructuring is seen as a clear testament of the President’s passion for youth development and national cohesion which has been at the forefront of his tenure of office.

Since assuming office in 2017, President Akufo-Addo has consistently pursued initiatives that enhance the growth of the critical core mass of young people in Ghana, stemming from the belief that those energies and talents will drive the country’s development agenda for decades to come.

He noted at the inauguration that the transformation of the National Service Scheme, into a fully-fledged authority, represents a combination of years of dedication to this cause.

“It’s not by coincidence that nations around the world, being United States of America, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Japan, or our neighbours in Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, and Kenya have implemented national or youth service programs as strategic tools for development,” he added.

With the National Service concept providing young people with the opportunities to contribute to the country’s socioeconomic development whilst instilling in them a sense of responsibility, patriotism and civic duty, the president said, in Ghana, the National Service Scheme has played an essential role in our development trajectory.

Beyond fostering national cohesion, the Scheme has contributed significantly to the building of infrastructure, whether in health, education, agriculture, or local governance. “Each year, some one hundred and fifty thousand graduates are deployed with some fifty thousand serving in the education sector alone.”

This remarkable contribution, he continued, not only supports the achievement of national development goals, but also saves the country some three billion cedis annually, in wage cost.

According to the President, the establishment of the National Service Authority, under the new Act, marks a transformation of the scheme into an authority and equips it to take on an even more expansive role in nation building.

This move ensures that the authority, will not only mobilise and deploy service personnel, but will also equip them with employable skills and position them for greater success in their post service’s life.

“As we look to the future, I have confidence that the next administration, led, “Insha Allah by my Vice President, the NPP’s excellent Presidential candidate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, will build on this foundation, ensuring that the national service authority continues to be a driving force, for the development of our youth and the nation at large,” President Akufo-Addo said.

Concluding, he was confident that the ongoing progress of the nation will depend on the skills, creativity and innovative potential of the young people, and that the National Service Authority will be at the heart of nurturing this potential and collaborating with key institutions to introduce the human capital necessary for Ghana’s socioeconomic transformation.