Head of Corporate Affairs at the National Service Secretariat (NSS), Armstrong Esaah, has revealed that the introduction of NSS Metric App has helped to eliminate about 14,000 ghost names from the system.
He outlined the transformative impact of the app, noting its role in streamlining registration processes and averting the need for personnel to endure prolonged queues at NSS district offices.
The Metric App, equipped with artificial intelligence security measures, has proven instrumental in preventing impersonation attempts, thus safeguarding millions of cedis for the Ghanaian economy.
Mr Esaah revealed that Ghana narrowly dodged a GH₵112 million payout to unqualified individuals three years ago, a crisis averted through the timely implementation of the Metric App.
“The NSS Metric App was introduced in the 2021–2022 service year with the sole aim of speeding up the national service registration process as well as enhancing the elimination of impersonation.
“During the registration, one has to complete an NSS form online and visit the district offices, where the app is used to scan the faces of prospective service personnel and match them with their Ghana cards for authentication and validation.
“Without this app, these people would have gone through registration and paid a monthly service allowance, though they may not exist. They were blocked so they could not get the chance to even enter and get registered,” he noted in an interview on Onua FM.
In the interview, Mr. Esaah also shed light on plans and partnership agreement documents the NSS management has prepared to enable the secretariat to deploy personnel to foreign countries for their mandatory national services.
Management of NSS is hopeful that Parliament will expedite actions to pass the NSS policy for 2024–2034, which contains a comprehensive review of the operations of the National Service Scheme.