The federal government led by Bola Tinubu has introduced a new initiative aimed at transforming the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) into a self-sustaining agency that generates revenue.
The Minister of Youth Development, Jamila Bio-Ibrahim, revealed this during an interview on ChannelsTV on Sunday evening.
In response to inquiries about potential increases in the monthly allowances for corps members, the minister explained that the government is actively engaged in restructuring the NYSC program to align with the current economic conditions in the country.
“We all understand that resources are dwindling, even oil revenues are not as they used to be but we will find innovative ways of ensuring that corps members’ welfare is well-taken care of,” she said.
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“When it comes to remuneration and looking totally at the holistic funding of the NYSC, we have announced a reform of the NYSC scheme itself. So, we want the scheme to go beyond that social programme of government to be that revenue-generating scheme and agency.
“The reforms which transform the NYSC into a revenue-generating agency and prepare the corps members for the job market and to be decently and gainfully employed or to be employers of labour through entrepreneurship and of course, perfect matching into primary assignment and all the support they need in that career path.”
She stated that corps members were no longer posted to states deemed unsafe in the wake of worsening security conditions in the country.
“As an immediate intervention of the government and the NYSC as an agency, we have actually stopped posting corps members to the very unsafe states.
“We have been doing it. We have been doing it in the past. There are states we have not been posting corps members to to ensure their safety,” she added.
According to her, the security of corps members requires collaboration with other agencies of government.
“When it comes to security matters, it is a multi-sectoral approach. So, it is not the NYSC alone and the ministry that is involved. We are working with security outlets to ensure corps members are safe,” the minister said.