NYSC: We’ll mobilise all prospective corps members - DG

Growing fears that the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) will not be able to mobilise all qualified graduates for the Batch B of the 2016 scheme, have been allayed by the Director-General, Briga­dier Sulaiman Zakari Kazaure.
Kazuare said that though the NYSC has financial constraints, which would have affected the mobilization of all prospec­tive corps members, the Fed­eral Government had given it a marching order to ensure that no qualified graduate was left out.
To meet the government’s directive, Kazaure said that the NYSC will operate two streams between now and January next year to cater for all corps mem­bers.

So far, 170,000 graduates have registered for the Batch B of the 2016 scheme, but the NYSC disclosed that the Federal Gov­ernment budgetary allocation to the agency will only cover 86,000 eligible members, and a special appeal has been made to the government for an intervention fund to ensure that all the corps members are mobilised.
Kazaure expressed delight that President Muhammadu Bu­hari was favourably disposed to the request, adding that in the last six months, the President had severally intervened on is­sues affecting the NYSC, espe­cially the mobilisation of corps members.
At a media parley with sen­ior editors in Abuja on Wednes­day, Kazaure gave room to top officials of the NYSC to respond to some topical issues.
The Corps Director of Mo­bilisation, Frank Ekpunobi, ex­plained that when the online registration for Batch B was closed on Tuesday, a total of 170,000 eligible corps members had completed the exercise.
Kazaure said: “In the past few weeks, the NYSC has been in the news over its presumed inability to mobilise all quali­fied prospective corps members for the 2016 Batch B service year. As much as there is always pub­lic interest in the affairs of the scheme, the NYSC is prepared as always to mobilise all quali­fied graduates for the next ser­vice batch.”
“However, it must be em­phasised that as a budget de­pendent organisation, the scope of our activities is facing finan­cial constraints like every other government agency in the pre­sent recession.
“In the 2016 Budget, provi­sion was made for the mobilisa­tion of a total of 210,000 corps members. However, the figure for the 2016 Batch A and Batch B has more than doubled in orig­inal projection. We have ap­pealed to government for a spe­cial intervention grant to mop up the exercise of this figure. So far, we have received the green light from the relevant govern­ment agencies to prepare for the mobilisation of all qualified prospective corps members,” he said.
Kazaure said that the limit­ed capacity of orientation camps in the country would necessitate the conduct of the exercise in two streams, beginning with No­vember, while the second stream of the Batch B will be mobilised in January 2017.
On the collaboration of the NYSC with the Independent Na­tional Electoral Commission (INEC), the Director-General noted that the partnership has recorded a huge success, adding that the participation of corps members in the elections has raised the high sense of trans­parency and commitment in the country’s democracy.
He noted that the NYSC management will continue to sensitise its corps members on the need to maintain neutrality, honesty and commitment in the discharge of their election duties.
He added that the Corps has intensified efforts to improve on the welfare of its members, add­ing that it has recently increased the dividend of its insurance pol­icy to members who lose their life in service to N1m since 2011, stressing that it has also initiated a policy where it offers employ­ment opportunities to relatives of death corps members as well as compensation.