Parliament has passed the National Service Authority Bill 2024, aiming to establish the National Service Authority to mobilize and post qualified individuals to areas of national priority, thereby fostering national development and enhancing employability.
This bill also seeks to establish the authority as a corporate entity with the legal capacity to develop and implement policies and programs for national service.
The Executive Director of the National Service Scheme, Osei Assibey Antwi, expressed his delight over the bill’s passage during a media engagement on Tuesday, July 9.
He emphasized its potential benefits, stating, “If you have a vibrant youth, if you have a youth that has a future, if you have a youth that knows where they are going, if you have a youth that has the policy to guide them, especially at this time that the current management and the board have now moved into a new direction called deployment for employment. This deployment for employment can only be enhanced with this current backing.”
Mr. Assibey Antwi also highlighted that the bill’s passage will empower the authority to generate funds internally, complementing the government’s efforts toward creating employment opportunities for the youth.
“Now, Parliament has given us an autonomy, an authority that is vested with powers in areas where it is going to enhance entrepreneurship,” he added.
He concluded by noting that with this new status, the National Service Scheme (NSS) can achieve significant internally-generated funds, reducing the financial burden on the central government.
He expressed confidence that the President would assent to the bill, providing it with the finality it needs to be fully effective.
