Buhari Rules Out Possibility Of Scrapping NYSC Scheme

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday ruled out the possibility of scrapping the National Youth Service Corps as being suggested in some quarters.


This is just as the NYSC management is considering the option of making the scheme voluntary in order to reduce the population of corps members.

There has been calls for the scrapping of the scheme since the insurgency in parts of the country has been claiming the lives of some corps members.

Proponents of the scrapping of the scheme have been arguing that the NYSC had outlived its usefulness.

But a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, quoted Buhari as pledging that his administration will take all necessary actions to maintain and improve the scheme as a functional vehicle for the promotion of national unity and integration.

Adesina said the President gave the assurance after receiving a briefing from officials of the Ministry of Youth Development, led by the Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Rabi Jimeta.

The President was said to have affirmed his confidence and trust in the programme, saying that the objective for which the scheme was established in 1973 was still very relevant for national development now.

“I firmly believe in the NYSC and I think it should remain a national programme to promote integration.

“Whenever I go home to Daura, I look out for corps members from Lagos, Aba and other parts of the country.

“I am always thrilled to learn that except for the NYSC, some of them have never left their states of origin to visit other cities in the country,” the President told the ministry’s officials.

Jimeta told the President, that the increasing number of NYSC participants posed a challenge to the scheme due to the dwindling revenue from the national budget to cater for their needs.

She told the President that the annual enrollment of corps members had increased from 2,364 at inception in 1974 to 229,016 in 2014.

“Given the increasing number of tertiary institutions, our projection is that the number of corps participants may rise to 300,000 by year 2020,” she said.

Adesina also quoted the Director-General of NYSC, Brig.-Gen. Johnson Olawumi, as telling the President that there were plans to make the scheme voluntary.