NYSC trust fund will improve staff, corpers’ welfare – Minister

Sunday Dare,  the Minister for Youth and Sports Development, has announced that a reform bill, which has been submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent will see the injection of N14bn into the National Youth Service Corps.

The minister disclosed this on Tuesday during his welcome address at the opening ceremony of the 2023 Annual Management Conference held in Abuja,

The Conference which has it focus on the NYSC's 50th Anniversary with the theme; “Optimising the operations of the NYSC at 50.”

Mr. Dare, who saluted the management of the NYSC ahead of the scheme’s 50th anniversary, said discussions on reforms had to top the program of the conference, adding that the bill could not have come at a better time.

“The NYSC Trust Fund that is coming is a part of that reform. There are other reforms that we must bear in mind, both internally and externally". Dare said.

“I will give you another piece of the good news. The final document and the final approval have been waiting for us to increase and improve the quality of the uniforms of our corps members. We will also increase their bicycle allowance, their feeding allowance, and compensation to the staff. All of that has been done and has gone to the relevant finance ministry, and I am sure that as it makes its way to the Presidency, we will get a positive response that will see an injection of about N14bn into the corps and staff welfare of NYSC.

“I must thank the National Assembly. At a period when people were clamouring for the NYSC to be disbanded, this bill was being pushed through the National Assembly. We found so many lawmakers who rallied around, from the House of Representatives and its leadership to the Senate leadership, to see that this bill went through the three stages, and then to the table of the President.”

Mr. Sunday Dare also called on the management of the scheme to ensure that it paid attention to the corps members’ needs, adding that “the youths of this country matter.”

Reacting to the minister's declaration,  the NYSC Director General, Brig. Gen. Yushau Ahmed, in his address, expressed hope that the “NYSC Trust Fund would be actualized” in due time.

“When established, it will make the NYSC Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development Programme more functional through the provision of training facilities and start-up capital to finance the businesses of corps entrepreneurs,” Ahmed said.