By Mercy Darko
The National Service Scheme (NSS), has saved Ghana at least GHC112 million through digitizing their operations.
This money would have been paid to underserved people, which has been the norm over the years.
The Executive Director, Osei Assibey Antwi disclosed this when Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia paid an unannounced visit to the Office of the NSS in Accra.
Making the disclosure, Mr. Assibey Antwi said the introduction of the Metric app, which combines facial recognition technology and Identity Card checks for Verification and Validation, so far blocked the enrolment of 14,027 potential fraudsters onto the Scheme, saving the nation the colossal amount of money.
While escorting Vice President Bawumia around the facility, Mr. Assibey Antwi said the entire National Service process had been digitized, making it easier and more user friendly.
Also, it has made it possible to introduce new modules based on the specializations of the students, such as building technology, agriculture and accounting, and the fostering of relationships with relevant institutions.
He noted that more than 40,000 Accounting Students are produced every year. In order to make proper use of their talents and help both the government and private sector, discussions are being held with the Ghana Revenue Authority to partner the NSS to provide basic book keeping services to Government and the private sector.
”Similar discussions are ongoing with Eximbank to provide start-up capital and tools for those trained in Agriculture after an internship at the Dawhenya Greenhouse facility”.
Commending the leadership of the Scheme for their “out of the box thinking”, Vice President Bawumia expressed delight that the fruits of digitalization, designed to formalize the economy and fight corruption, are beginning to manifest widely.
”The use of technology in just one institution has saved us Ghs112m and if this is replicated in more institutions in the public sector, the nation will be saving millions of cedis especially in the verification of workers before the payment of compensation”, he noted.
Some people were listed as potential Service Personnel but were fished out by the systems put in place by the NSS hence, saving the country from paying stipends to unqualified service Personnel.
