NYSC has come to stay—FG •Says we’ll borrow to fund scheme if need be

Against calls for the abolishment of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), the Federal Government, on Monday, said the scheme had come to stay despite all challenges.

It described those calling that the scheme be scrapped as “short sighted,” as their advocacy could lead  to derailment of Nigeria’s corporate unity.

The Minister of Youth and Sports,  Solomon Dalung, stated this while addressing the 2016 Batch ‘B’ youth corps members posted to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), at the permanent orientation camp in Kubwa, Abuja.

He explained that the NYSC scheme had grown to become the backbone of Nigeria’s national unity, thus creating and fostering progressive relationships among youths from diverse cultures across  the country.

“The scheme has created opportunity for young Nigerians to get acquainted and interact with other Nigerians in the country. Anybody that intends to rule must know his country very well,” he said.

Dalung assured  corps members not to believe the “beer parlour gossips on the social media that the Federal Government was about to scrap the scheme.

He explained that the current administration would do all to ensure that the scheme was properly funded.

His words: “The NYSC ranks high in the priority of President Muhammadu Buhari, therefore, the present administration is taking steps to improve the scheme, because the programme is so dear to the president.

“Let me assure you that the Federal Government will always have money to run NYSC, even if it means borrowing from anywhere to enhance the scheme.”

To this end, he urged the corps members to maximise every opportunity the scheme offered and charged them to make new friends and build bridges across the divide; saying this would become useful in future.

“The beauty of NYSC is its unity perspective and networking potential and without the scheme, Nigeria would have folded up,” he added.

Dalung also called on the corps members to engage in religious interface, promote religious tolerance in the country and see themselves as vanguards of a new Nigeria; urging them to regard the current recession in the country as  temporary.

Reacting to issue of postings, the minister called on the agency responsible for deploying corps members to ensure that they were posted to MDAs that were relevant to their areas of study for their primary assignment so that they would be optimally utilised.

He appealed to federal agencies to refrain from rejecting corps members for primary engagement, as doing so was tantamount to passing a vote of no confidence on the scheme.

On his part, the NYSC’s state coordinator, Omotayo Adeoye, disclosed that a total number of 2,936 corps members were deployed to FCT Orientation Camp from the 36 states of the federation.