FOURTEEN THOUSAND ghost names have been deleted from the National Service Scheme (NSS) personnel list for the 2021/2022 service year.
The exercise, which has saved the country an amount of GH¢112 million in a year, was achieved through the use of an artificial intelligence security feature dubbed the ‘Metric App’.
This breakthrough was made possible following the vision, hard work and the timely intervention of the NSS Executive Director, Osei Assibey Antwi, and his officers at the NSS head office in Accra.
Osei Assibey told the Vice President Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia that the exercise has saved the national purse when the latter visited the NSS headquarters in Accra.
“Upon assumption of office in September 2021, I introduced an artificial intelligence security feature, the ‘Metric App’ to help speed up national service registration process and to also eliminate impersonation.
“This app scans faces of prospective service persons and matches them with their Ghana card for authentication and validation,” Osei Assibey informed the Vice President and his delegation.
The NSS Executive Director also added that “Though 113,254 people had enrolled for national service; some 14,000 out of this figure could not be verified and registered.
“Without this app, these people would have gone through registration and paid monthly service allowance, though they may not exist. They were blocked at the gate so could not get the chance to even enter and get registered,” he disclosed.
Osei Assibey stated that but for the introduction of the Metric App “The country would have spent GH¢112 million to pay the allowances of those unqualified persons by the end of the service year.”
Bawumia Shocked
Dr. Bawumia was shocked about the revelation, and commended Osei Assibey and his management team at the NSS for being proactive and protecting the national purse.
“I will like to congratulate you on your digitalisation drive which has proven to be very effective because so far, you and your partners are saving this country from wasting over a GH¢112 million this year,” Dr. Bawumia added.
The Vice President said Osei Assibey indeed deserved to be showered with tons of praises for his thinking outside the box strategies and efforts, which has saved the country such huge amount of money.
“You have an outside the box thinking and I think this is what we all should go,” Dr. Bawumia declared and also assured of his unflinching support for Osei Assibey and the entire NSS team.
Emulate Osei Assibey
He also encouraged heads of state institutions and organisations in the country to emulate Osei Assibey’s example so that all the loopholes in the system that leads to wasted money, would be tightened.
“This achievement is massive by any stretch because if we replicate this in ten institutions. We are talking of saving the country almost a billion cedis; you can understand why it is so important to link the payroll with the Ghana Card, which in your case has chased 14,027 people away.”
Dr. Bawumia’s unannounced visit to the NSS headquarters on Monday was part of his efforts to keep state institutions on their toes at all times. He further lauded the NSS for churning out patriotic and productive personnel.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi