The National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, has said that the scheme has put an end to posting corps members to states regarded as unsafe due to the worsening security crises in the country.
Jamila Ibrahim, the Minister of Youth, made this revelation during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics that aired in Sunday, February 4, 2024.
The scheme has made this announcement in light of recent reports of corps members being abducted in certain parts of the country during their one-year mandatory national service.
These reports have heightened the fears about the sustainability and benefits of the scheme towards young Nigerian graduates.
But according to Ibrahim, the scheme has taken steps to fortify the postings of prospective corp members including posting them to only ‘safe states’.
In Ibrahim’s words:
“As a quick intervention of the government and the NYSC as an agency, we have quit posting corps members to unsafe states.”“We have been doing this. We have been doing it in the past. There are states we have not posted corps members to, to ensure their safety,” she added.
According to her, the protection of corps members required partnership with other government agencies.
Additionally, the minister revealed that the Federal Government was working on improving the NYSC scheme to reflect the present realities of the country, particularly in terms of their allowance.