NSS Executive Director Urges NSPs To Make Impact With National Service.

Hon Osei Assibey Antwi, Executive Director of the National Service Scheme (NSS) addressing final year students at the great hall, KNUST.

Executive Director, National Service Scheme, Hon Osei Assibey Antwi has asked final year students and prospective national service persons (NSPs) to make the necessary impact in the places they will be carrying out their duties.

Addressing an orientation forum for final year students at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Hon Assibey urged the students to apply to outfits that they could best explore with their backgrounds or courses they offered in school.

The Executive Director disclosed that the President was keen in seeing graduates becoming useful service persons and gaining access to permanent employment at places they would be serving.

“The President of the Republic has mandated me to ensure that persons we deploy are doing what they love to do so that they could secure permanent jobs after their year long service and so for us we are sticking to that mandate”, Hon Assibey stated.

Digitalization:
The Executive Director said the NSS directorate due to the digitalization project introduced by the Vice President of the Republic, was currently using high level technology for their enrollment processes.

This, he noted, was to aid prospective national service persons to carry out their mandatory service seamlessly.

He also revealed that the directorate would be using same technology to carry out the postings of NSPs for the years 2024/2025 as well as subsequent editions.

“By the introduction of the digitalization agenda by the Vice President of the Republic, the NSS Directorate is also adopting same to carry out enrollment and posting processes of the scheme”, the Director explained.

Policy:
Even though the NSS is in its 50th year as an outfit, the Executive Director noted that it had no working policy.

But currently, Hon Assibey disclosed that the Directorate has by a direction from the President of the Republic, been able to come up with a working policy document designed through thorough work aided by the advice from experienced persons.

This new policy, he noted would be a working document for the Directorate from now on.

Experience:
Giving a narration of his national service days, Hon Assibey Antwi said he was posted to a very remote community in the Ashanti region.

He noted that undeterred, he decided to take up the mandate of teaching in a community many NSPs had refused to go.

Hon Assibey said buoyed by the passion and the bond he had established with the people in the community, he asked the NSS directorate for an extension of his service.

“Even though it was a tortuous experience during my time at the remote community where i did my service after a year i had become part of the people so much that I asked the directorate to allow me to do another year of service at the community”, Hon Assibey stated.

Way Forward:
Speaking to the media, Hon Assibey disclosed that the President had given his consent to make the NSS an autonomous institution.

Currently, he noted that a bill is in Parliament to make the decision official after the parliamentary processes.

This feat when attained, he explained would allow the NSS to go into more working partnerships that would enable them to explore opportunities that could create permanent jobs for NSPs just as his outfit is doing with the plantation farms at Abotantim where some persons have been employed permanently.

Ashanti Regional Director:
Prince Kankam Boadu, Ashanti Regional Director at the NSS entreated the prospective service at KNUST to be diligent when applying for their duty posts.

Some of the final year students of KNUST at the orientation forum organised by the NSS

He asked that they choose places that would make them useful by virtue of the education they had attained while in school.

Mr Boadu charged them to be disciplined and courteous in life and especially during service, adding that many have had permanent jobs after service due to how they comported themselves.

KNUST Director Examinations:
Mr Kofi Adu, Director of Exams at KNUST and NSS Coordinator said the university had been working closely with the NSS to carry out enrollments and to aid students offer their mandatory service over the years.

He noted that in 2021/2022, the university deployed 16, 900 students to do their national service as it also enabled a whopping 24, 938 to carry out their national service in 2022/2023.

Story By Michael Ofosu-Afriyie, Kumasi.