The Federal Government has said National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members are no longer posted to states deemed unsafe.
Several corps members have been faced abductions in various regions of the country during their obligatory one-year national service, prompting concerns about the scheme’s viability.
However, the Minister of Youth, Jamila Ibrahim, during an interview on Channels Television’s current affairs show Sunday Politics, assured that measures have been implemented to safeguard NYSC members, including assigning them exclusively to secure states.
She said, “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 maintained.
“We are also working on group transportation strategies for them to ensure that they are transported to and from camps safely and to their destinations.”
The minister said the Federal Government is working on reforming the NYSC scheme to reflect the present realities of the nation, particularly in the area of their allowance.
“When it comes to remuneration, we are looking at the holistic funding of the NYSC. You are all aware that we have announced a reform of the NYSC scheme itself. We want the scheme to go beyond being a social programme of the government,” she added.
“The reforms will actually transform the NYSC into a revenue-generating agency and prepare corps members for the job market…”she added.
