The Federal Government has said that members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Scheme are no longer posted to states considered unsafe in the wake of worsening security situations in the country.
Several corps members had been abducted in some parts of the country during their one-year mandatory national service, raising fears about the safety of participants in the scheme, which meant for national integration.
The Minister of Youth Development, Jamila Ibrahim Bio, who disclosed this on Sunday night, said the Scheme has taken steps to secure corps members, including posting them only to safe places of primary assignment.
“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,” the Minister said on Channels Television’s current affairs programme, ‘Sunday Politics’ monitored by our correspondent in Abuja.
“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.
“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,” she added.
The minister said the Federal Government was 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.
“The reforms will actually transform the NYSC into a revenue-generating agency and prepare corps members for the job market,” Miss Bio added.
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