The Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps, Brigadier -General Johnson Olawumi, has said that the Federal Government has stopped deployment of corps members in the troubled three North-East states of Boro, Adamawa and Yobe, which are currently under emergency rule.
Olawumi stated this in Abuja on Wednesday when he appeared before members of the Committee on Civil Society, Labour, Youths and Sports of the National Conference.
He said that the NYSC had taken a decision not to send any corps member to the affected states unless the request to be posted to any of the states comes from the corps members.
The DG said, “We have stopped sending corps members to the three troubled states in North-East under emergency rule. Surprisingly, some still demand to be posted there. But nobody is forced to go there.”
He said there was no way the agency would stop those demanding to be posted there, adding that the embargo on the three states would continue until the security in the states improved.
The DG also said the NYSC was considering setting up youth empowerment fund where skilled corps members would be able to borrow after their service year.
He said, “What we are looking at is to have a pool where those corps members who have acquired one skill or the other while in camp and throughout the service year will write a business proposal, which we will look at and if we find it suitable, refer such a corps member to the administrators of that fund that they can advance on loan.
“Such a loan, if it is approved, will be interest-free and there will be no issue of bringing collateral, since the corps member is just passing out, we hold the discharge certificate as collateral.
“We have tried that under the MDGs, War against Poverty Programme and seen 100 per cent response by corps members to payment of loans given to them.”
He said the NYSC was already planning to expand by posting corps members to oil companies and banks, an action he said was not part of the policy of the NYSC before.
