The National Service Authority has assured personnel plans to increase allowances for the next service year.
Director General, Felix Gyamfi, says a series of meetings with the Finance Ministry will lead to a possible upward review of allowances in the national budget.
“There is a window for us to include it in the budget very soon. The thing that I am certain about is that the new cohorts will most likely receive the new allowances,” he added.
He was speaking at a Pre-Service Orientation ahead of the upcoming service year in Kumasi.
The National Service Authority has released PIN codes for 132,393 prospective national service personnel, a figure lower than numbers realized in the last three years.
For the coming national service year, personnel expected to be enrolled is pegged at 132,393, 26% lower than figures from the previous three years.
Compared to figures from 2022/2023 national service year, which is the highest over the past three years, a 36% reduction has been realized.
About 3,597 submissions from twenty-two institutions were not processed since the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission describes the institutions as unaccredited.
To the NSA, stricter validation protocols and increased transparency have helped in the elimination of inflated or fraudulent submissions.
Director General, Felix Gyamfi believes the reduced enrolment figures will help the government save cost and improve remuneration for personnel to be enrolled.
“If we do a calculation of seven hundred and fifty cedis as against the number that we are saving, you will immediately see the number being saved,” he added.
The service is encouraging Small and Medium Scale Enterprises to absorb service personnel to drive interest of the youth in the sector.
According to the Director General, the SMEs hold the key to economic development, hence the need to aid training of personnel.
Mr. Gyamfi indicated, “If you are a one-man business and we access your business, find out that whatever you are doing is tangible, we can send people there.
“Why are national service people not posted to Abossey Okai, Kokompe and Suame Magazine? They have billions in the sector, most of these businesses that sell car parts are bigger than some IT businesses in terms of capital,” he observed.
The Director General also indicated ten thousand personnel will be posted for military training. The choice to be made will be determined by the Secretariat.
Already, the course outline has been drawn for personnel, with priority on discipline, alertness and emergency response.
He wants young people to open up for opportunities being presented to them by the Authority.