The National Service Scheme (NSS), through the digitisation of its operations, has saved Ghana about GhC112 million by blocking payments to undeserving persons, the Executive Director, Osei Assibey Antwi has disclosed.
The Executive Director said the introduction of the Metric app, which combined facial recognition technology and Identity Card checks for Verification and Validation, had blocked the enrolment of 14,027 potential fraudsters onto the Scheme, saving the nation that amount.
“We had them on lists as potential Service Personnel but they run away and couldn’t register because the system raised red flags and weeded them out, so they couldn’t register.”
He said without the use of digital technology, the Scheme would have paid GHC94 million, or GHC112 million if they had gone to the private sector.
Mr Assibey Antwi disclosed when the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, on Monday paid an unannounced visit to the NSS Head Office in Accra.
Mr Asibey Antwi, who took the Vice President to inspect the entire digitised process, said the system had made it possible to introduce new modules based on the specialisations of the students—building technology, agriculture and accounting— foster relationships with relevant institutions.
He said over 40,000 Accounting students are produced every year and to make use of their talents, NSS was holding discussions with the Ghana Revenue Authority to partner it to provide basic bookkeeping services to the government and the private sector.
The NSS Boss indicated that similar discussions were ongoing with Eximbank to provide start-up capital and tools for those trained in Agriculture after an internship at the Dawhenya Greenhouse facility.
In addition, personnel with a background in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) are receiving training in 24 locations across the country on the development and growth of businesses in the ICT sector.
Commending the leadership of the Scheme for their “out of the box thinking” Vice President Bawumia expressed delight that the fruits of digitalisation, designed to formalise the economy and fight corruption, were beginning to manifest widely.
“The use of technology in just one institution has saved us GHC112m. Imagine how much would be saved if 10 institutions, or the entire public sector, infused digitalisation in their operations, especially in the verification of workers before the payment of compensation,” Dr Bawumia stated.
Rex Mainoo Yeboah, ISD
