Federal Government will restructure NYSC, says minister

Scheme accuses schools of enrolling unqualified graduates

Minister of Youth Development, Jamila Bio-Ibrahim, has said the Federal Government will restructure the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to make it a revenue-generating agency and to meet future demands.

Meanwhile, the scheme has accused some tertiary institutions of enrolling unqualified graduates as corps members. The minister, at the opening ceremony of the maiden meeting of NYSC management with heads of Corps-Producing Institutions (CPIs), in Abuja, yesterday, said a team to undertake the reform of NYSC would be inaugurated soon. She also announced that over 5,000 corps members would have their entrepreneurial ventures funded with close to N10 million.

“I will be inaugurating a team to undertake the review, restructuring and reform of the NYSC. The first of these reforms will be centred on reviewing participants with an entrepreneurship mindset and making skills development a core of the programme.

“The NYSC already does that, but the objective is to work with them to strengthen what they already have to be more effective and beneficiary,” she disclosed.

Director-General of NYSC, Brig-Gen Yushau Ahmed, while welcoming the heads of CPIs, said the meeting was to enhance the mobilisation process of prospective corps members.

WHILE warning that the scheme would no longer take lightly the issue of enrolling unqualified graduates, the DG blamed the development on the delegation of duties by heads of institutions on other officers.

The Guardian reports that no fewer than 351 CPIs across the country attended the event. He said part of the agenda of the meeting was to evolve strategies for the elimination of identified flaws and ensure a more seamless mobilisation process.

He said: “Over the years, we have thoroughly examined the process and identified avoidable problems, while constructive engagements with relevant stakeholders have led to several resolutions to address them. However, some CPIs are not doing enough on the implementation of these decisions. In trying to identify and remove the obstacles, optimism has been expressed in some quarters that the direct involvement of the chief executives of the institutions in the process will promote a deeper appreciation of issues and ensure achievement of desired results.”

Declaring the event open, Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, lauded the scheme for consistently symbolising the collective commitment to national development, unity and integration.

Represented by the Mandate Secretary, Women Affairs Secretariat of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Adedayo Benjamin-Laniyi, the minister said: “It is gratifying to note that the scheme is focused on enhancing the efficiency of its operation, especially through the adoption of technology-driven approaches in data collation and processing for mobilisation and deployment purposes. I encourage you to continue to optimise the IT solutions for accuracy and greater efficiency.”