The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) is urging the government to implement a structured formula for the upward adjustment of the national service allowance.

On July 23, 2023, the management of the National Service Scheme announced that it had received approval from the government to increase the monthly allowances for National Service Personnel from GHC 559.04 to GHC 715.57, with the increment backdated to January 2023.

This decision came after prolonged protests and calls for an increase in the allowance since the previous year.

However, according to NUGS President, Dennis Appiah Larbi-Ampofo, the increment falls short of their proposed figure.

He suggested that implementing a structured adjustment formula would eliminate the need for periodic prolonged advocacy to secure the necessary increases in allowances. By establishing a clear and consistent formula, the process of adjusting the national service allowance can be streamlined and made more efficient.

“If you look at the expenditure of service personnel it would have been fine if we had gotten to the 800 cedis mark we had pleaded for. But at this point what our focus is now is that we don’t want to travel 5 years again before service allowances are increased again. We are calling on the government to institute a structured formula for increasing NSS allowance. If this happens it would save us from having to go through lengthy advocacy, pleading, negotiations before NSS allowances are increased”, he stated.

Mr. Larbi-Ampofo further proposed the increase be adjusted in line with the times.

“The money is already not enough so if the increments are not in tandem with the prevailing economic conditions, this makes lives unbearable for service persons."

“All we are calling for is a structured formula of increasing NSS allowances, so we don’t need to go so long a time before NSS allawa are increased”, he concluded.