Stakeholders on Thursday rallied support for the bills seeking to establish the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) trust fund and that seeking to make provision for the establishment of youth entrepreneurship development trust fund and a management team to administer the funds.
Appearing at a public hearing organised by the House Committee on Youth Development in Abuja, the Ministry of Sports Development said that because of the nation’s bad economic situation, the bills would go a long way to address unemployment in the country as well as an infrastructural deficit of NYSC.
The ministry represented by its Director, Hajiya Amina Dauran, said that the establishment of the fund would also lessen the burden for the federal government in terms of paying the NYSC monthly allowances.
Also speaking in support of the bill, Director General of NYSC, Major General Shuaibu Ibrahim, said once the corp members were empowered they would not be able to involve in any criminality.
Speaking in the same vein, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said if the bill is passed, youths in the country would have a sense of direction after their one year service as the majority of arrests made by the agency on financial crimes currently were youths.
A memorandum presented at the public hearing by former governor of Edo State, Prof Oserheimen Osunbor, though supported the bill but with some observations and suggestions which bothered on four areas.
The areas include sources of the Trust Fund, Establishment and composition of the board of trustees for the Fund, Financial provisions-Funding and Editorial/Drafting including the arrangement of clauses.
Explaining further regarding the sources of the Trust Fund, Osunbor cited clause 4(1)(b) which provides that the bill will include 0.2% of the total revenue accruing to the federation account.
According to him, “I am of the opinion that this may be unconstitutional being in conflict with section 162 of the Constitution which sets out how public revenue is to be disbursed from the Distributable Pool Account. Essentially, these are to be distributed to the Federal, States and Local Government, the only additions being the 13% derivation and payments to the Judiciary.”
On the establishment and composition of the board of trustees of the Trust Fund, citing clause 7(2)(a) which states that the Board shall include the “Chairman and members of the NYSC National Governing Board as constituted in Section 3 subsection 2(a)-(h) of the NYSC Act,” he advised that the Board of Trustees should enjoy some level of independence and detachment from the main NYSC Governing Board itself as to forestall possible conflict of interest.
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He pointed out further that the NYSC Governing Body has a total of 10 members stating that if the ex-official members listed in clause 7(2)(b) is added it will be 16 in total which is unwieldy.
He, therefore, suggested that a chairman and six members be drawn from each of the six geo-political zones of the country by the Governing Body.
However, the committee should pay particular attention to the sourcing and utilisation of funds part as addressed to avoid the abuses that have been associated in recent times with Trust Funds by officials.
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) representative, MaryJane Okafor explained that the trust fund was very necessary as it would make an enormous impact.
According to her, “if this bill is established, it will help in securing skill and acquisitions funds for the youth corp members and also used to empower them when they are done serving the country.
“It will also help to provide decent accommodation for serving corp members.”
Earlier in his remarks, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila charged the committee to come up with a diligent report that would assist in further strengthening the scheme.
The Speaker represented by the House leader, Alhassan Doguwa noted that both Bills seek to promote the economic advancement of the country.
While welcoming stakeholders to the public hearing, the Chairman of the Committee, Hon Yemi Adaramodu (Ekiti – APC) who lauded the sponsor of the bill dismissed claims that the youth have been catered for in various youth programmes, pointing out that “the so-called intervention programmes” were not backed by law and as such difficult to monitor.
He declared that the scheme had come to stay based on its unifying influence amongst the nation’s youths, saying that what the scheme needed was the support of kinds like the proposed bills.
Sponsors of the Bills, Hon Mayowa Akinfolarin and Hon. Farah Dagogo in their brief remarks said that the country needed a trust fund that would target the youth directly and could be used to harness their potential.
They said the bills would help to manage NYSC orientation camps across the country, adding that the establishment of the youth entrepreneurship skills learnt during the NYSC program would be supported with a start-up plan.
In all their submission, they said the bills would reduce unemployment.
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