Features
Essence of the Nation Builders Corps
All too soon, the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) has chalked three-and-a-half years after being introduced in the country as part of efforts by government to deal with the problem of youth unemployment in the country and the evidence for this laudable programme is there for all to see.
It has helped to ease pressure on unemployed graduates from our tertiary institutions. As a result, many of them can depend on their own selves for their basic personal expenditure instead of depending on their parents or guardians.
JOB MARKET
The programme is meant to prepare them adequately for the future job market and to make them more competent regarding their employable skills. If such skills are not well developed, it will adversely affect the employment potentials of such graduates.
All these go to show the significance of the programme which has come in at the right time to address the unemployment problem facing the youth. It is for this reason that the marking of at least three years of the programme is most appropriate, very welcome and also constitutes a step in the right direction.
At the same time, a new Module has been launched known as NABCO Skills and Talent Academy.This module is meant to unearth the skills and talents inherent in the personnel who are to operate under the programme. Other new modules have been included in the NABCO programme.
UNTAPPED SKILLS
Many a time, skills and talents of individuals, though essential, are left untapped and unexplored leading to much waste in human resources that could be utilised to turn round the fortunes of the nation and push it to a higher level of progress and development. Individual talent of the youth ought to be thoroughly tapped, explored to its full potential and developed to its full potential as a way of helping to maximise productivity at all fronts in all sectors in the economy.
Ultimately, a new module like the NABCO Skills and Talent Academy, will lead to increased job satisfaction and morale among the beneficiaries as future permanent employees, increased employee motivation, increased efficiency in processes, resulting in financial gain, increased capacity to adopt new technologies and methods as well as increased innovation in strategies and products. Thus, the progamme has great potentials for the entire country.
TRANSFORMING THE COUNTRY
What is being done today is what is necessary to transform the potential of the country in terms of increased productivity which will ultimately lead to maximum employment of the youth and generate massive and extensive welfare through economic development in the country. Carefully examined, NABCO has come as a strategic stop-gap measure meant to address youth unemployment in the country and bring down needless tension in all parts of the nation.
It is a programme that must be supported by everyone as a way of creating employment, even if on temporary basis for now, to bring about economic peace while we are given some room to adequately operate and manoeuvre in more comprehensive socio-economic terms for the common good for the nation. We expect all NABCO beneficiaries to put in their best and make maximum use of the opportunity provided them under the programme. Any form of indiscipline should never be tolerated.
ISSUE OF UNEMPLOYMENT
All over the world, the issue of unemployment today keeps threatening the peace and survival of mankind. This explains why Ghana’s innovative approach to the problem of unemployment must be appreciated and supported by all. Despite the challenges ahead, Ghana will have to work hard to emerge victorious in the fight against unemployment. This is because the ultimate success of the NABCO programme depends on all stakeholders so let us work hard towards its desired purpose.
The disturbingly unpleasant and unpalatable unemployment situation facing the world today is a matter of great concern to all governments, seeing that it is a problem that cannot be easily ignored or swept under the carpet.The reason for this is not far-fetched because unemployment is a potentially exclusive situation that can disturb the peace in any country. It is for this reason that efforts being made by the government of Ghana to address the problem are most welcome.
The intervention measure through the creation of a Nation Builders Corps has come in at a time when the youth of this country were almost reaching the level of hopelessness and anxiety in their socio-economic lives. To begin with, it has helped to ease pressure on unemployed graduates from our tertiary institutions. As a result, many of them can depend on their own selves for their basic personal expenditure instead of depending on their parents or guardians.
WHAT IS NECCESSARY
The point has already been made that what is being done today is what is necessary to transform the potential of the country in terms of increased productivity which will ultimately lead to maximum employment of the youth and generate massive and extensive welfare through economic development in the country. Carefully examined, NABCO has come as a strategic stop-gap measure meant to address youth unemployment in the country and bring down needless tension in all parts of the country.
Rome was not built in a day but through systematic gradual systems and policies that had helped in the transformation of socio-economic development. If Ghana is also to move ahead and compete favourably with other countries in the world, then we need to think of internally generated economic programmes that will help to transform the development agenda of the country.
TEMPORARY MEASURE
There is no doubt that NABCO is only a temporary measure that cannot be said to have solved the unemployment programme the country is facing. However, thinking about the numerous young persons who are now employed, even if temporarily, with an income that cannot be said to be adequate for complete survival, it is important for us to recognise that the nature of the stop-gap measure of the programme has come to solve some problems that the youth in the country were facing.
Certainly, NABCO cannot be the final blueprint for unemployment in the country. However, it is helping to deal with a problematic situation in form of unemployment that is confronting the youth in this country. It is a creative way of dealing with the unemployed situation, on temporary basis, while we allow the economy to expand and provide a form of improved employment for people in the country.
This is important because we must succeed!!!
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By Dr. Kofi Amponsah-Bediako
On Sunday, October 11, 2026, it was the turn of Ghanaian Catholics in Finland to lead the singing in the church service of the African Catholic Chaplaincy in Finland (ACCF).
It was indeed a spirit-filled feeling for worshippers present. And for the Ghanaian migrants, the occasion also brought back to them memories of church services in their home country, Ghana.
The ACCF has a roster for each country/community to sing from time to time. Next Sunday will be the turn of the Nigerian community. Other communities that usually sing are the Kenyan/Tanzanian community, the Cameroonian, the Ugandan, group, etc.
A powerful religious experience
The mass services of the Chaplaincy usually give a powerful religious experience and a display of cultural diversity, especially in occasions such as when the Bishop of Helsinki, Bishop Raimo Goyarrola, celebrated mass with the Chaplaincy on Pentecost Day, May 24, 2026.
There was a similar time of spiritual joy last month (September 27, 2026) when Emeritus Bishop Teemu Sippo, former Bishop of Helsinki, visited the Chaplaincy. Bishop Teemu was the main celebrant, assisted by the Chaplain, Reverend Father Thomas Otieno.
Last Sunday, Reverend Father Bernard Sor, a Ghanaian Catholic priest based in Austria, was the main celebrant in the mass service where he performed a rite of baptism. Fr Bernard had celebrated mass a few months ago when he visited his sister and her husband in Helsinki. 
All these well-attended religious occasions indeed leave lasting memories. The homilies (peaching) by the priests usually emphasize religious tenets such as the importance of loving and serving God in truth, existing in peace with our fellow humans to promote unity in diversity, etc.
Unity in diversity and a colourful display of cultures
The African Chaplaincy church services usually produce impressive displays of diverse cultures from different parts of Africa and elsewhere. The events are often spiced by rich cultural displays of dances and colourful attires which are a delight to watch.
On special occasions, members of the Ghanaian Catholic community, in their gay and colourful kente attire and with adowa dance and music, usually lead the procession into the church. Other communities such as the Cameroonian, Nigerian, Kenyan and Tanzanian as well as Sudanese/South Sudanese groups also put up well-choreographed performances from their cultures.
The African Catholic Chaplaincy in Finland
The African Chaplaincy was founded on June 4, 2017, which was a Pentecost Sunday, in a Pontifical High Mass celebrated by Monsignor Emeritus Sippo S.C.I., the then Bishop of Helsinki, at the St. Mary’s Catholic Parish Church in Helsinki.
The Chaplaincy was created by Bishop Teemu in collaboration with the Diocesan body when they detected a great flocking of African immigrants to Finland, the majority of whom were Catholics. This was to give the immigrants a possibility to integrate into the Finnish society by worshiping as Catholics and in their African cultural identity.
The responsibility of the Chaplaincy was given by Bishop Teemu to Father Dr Leonard Wobilla Shwei, who is thus the first Chaplain and ably led the Chaplaincy. He was succeeded a few years ago by Father Thomas Otieno, who continues to move the Chaplaincy forward. Thank you!
GHANA MATTERS column appears fortnightly. Written in simple, layman’s terms, it concentrates on matters about Ghana and beyond. It focuses on everyday life issues relating to the social, cultural, economic, religious, political, health, sports, youth, gender, etc. It strives to remind us all that Ghana comes first. The column also takes a candid look at the meanings and repercussions of our actions, especially those things we take for granted or even ignore. There are key Ghanaian values we should uphold rather than disregard with impunity. We should not overlook the obvious. We need to search for the hidden or deeply embedded values and try to project them.
With Dr Perpetual Crentsil
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She did not find out he was cheating. She found out he was drowning.
It was two weeks after their beautiful wedding. The jollof was still in the fridge. A loan officer called her number-not his-and politely asked, “Madam, please tell your husband to pay his overdue loan. We have been calling him.”
That was how she discovered her new husband had entered their marriage with a hidden debt of over GH¢ 40,000. No cheating. No other woman. Just a financial secret.
And that is how many Ghanaian marriages begin to die. Not with a shout, but with a secret alert on a phone.
We prepare for the wedding. We do not prepare for the wallet.
What is money honesty?
Let me define it simply. Money honesty is not that you both earn the same. It is that you both know the same. It is the ability to sit down and say without fear:
“This is how much I earn.”
“This is how much I owe.”
“This is how I was raised to see money.”
“This is what scares me about money.”
Financial transparency is not about control. It is about clarity. You cannot build trust on top of secrets.
Many couples tell me, “Counsellor, we love each other, love will handle money.” I always answer, “Love is the car, but money honesty is the fuel. Love without honesty cannot move.”
How To Buy Your Marriage Insurance Today – My 5-Step Protocol
If you are engaged, newly married, or even 20 years in marriage, you can still fix this. At Counsellor Prince & Associates Consult—CPAC, this is what I give couples:
Step 1: The 90-Minute Money Naked Session.
No phones, no blame. Each partner writes down on paper: Monthly income, monthly debts, monthly family obligations, savings, and your biggest money fear. Then you exchange papers. Read it. Don’t react for 24 hours. Just absorb.
Step 2: Create OUR Money, YOUR Money, My Money.
You need three pots. OUR money for rent, food, school fees, utilities, properties, and the like— joint contribution. YOUR money and MY money—a small agreed allowance no one questions. This stops the feeling of being controlled.
Step 3: The No-Secret Debt Rule.
Agree from today: No new loan, no new hire purchase, no new family financial commitment above GHS 500 without telling each other first. Not permission, but information.
Step 4: Talk About Your Money Personality.
Are you a Spender or a Saver? Are you Risky or Safe? Most Ghanaian marriages are a Spender married to a Saver. Neither is wrong. But if you don’t understand your partner’s personality, you will call his saving “stinginess” and her spending “wastefulness.”
Step 5: Do a Monthly 30-Minute Money Date
Not an argument date. Light, with tea. “How did we do this month? What worried you? What should we plan for next month?” Couples who do this divorce far less.
My Final Word
Before you say “I Do” at the altar, have pre-marital counselling and also have the money talk on the sofa.
Ask your partner:
“If I lost my job today, how long can we survive?”
“What debt are you bringing into this marriage?”
“How much do you send to your family monthly and will that continue?”
If he or she gets angry that you asked, don’t get married yet. A person who is angry about accountability will be abusive about money.
Marriage insurance is not bought at Star Assurance or Enterprise. It is bought in honest conversations when no one is watching.
The wedding costs one day. The marriage costs a lifetime. Don’t enter a lifetime contract and covenant with hidden costs.
You can still insure your marriage today.
Source:
Counselor Prince Offei, CPAC’s founder, is a leading Mental Health Professional, Marriage Counsellor, Author, ADR Expert/Arbitrator, and Spectator Newspaper Columnist. He writes on relationships, marriage, parenting, special needs support, and their connection to mental health. For therapy, counselling, or enquiries, contact Counselor Prince & Associates Consult (CPAC) in Accra on 0559850604 / 0551428486.
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