Kehinde Fajobi
The Minister for Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, has revealed plans to send a memo to President Bola Tinubu, directing all government agencies and parastatals to accept corps members assigned to them for mandatory service.
This follows concerns that some agencies might still reject corps members despite the Federal Government’s recent move to lift the ban on posting them to the private sector.
Olawande addressed this issue at a press conference in Abuja on Monday, where he clarified that the ministry had already instructed the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to ensure there are no obstacles to corps members being posted to various agencies.
He acknowledged reports of rejection by some government bodies and assured that the ministry would address these concerns.
“Let them post them first, then we would tackle the rejection. In part of the memo that we sent to the NYSC, we clearly stated that there is no barrier,” Olawande said.
He stressed that the new policy allows corps members to gain experience in diverse fields, including private sector companies like banks, which he believes is essential for their development.
Olawande added, “Before now, there was a barrier that corps members could not be posted to this and that. Banks come and take them. If you don’t have experience in banking, how do you want to know that you are good at accounting or whatever? We should stop lying to ourselves.”
The minister also confirmed that the ministry is addressing the issue of the delayed payment of the increased N77,000 allowance to corps members.
He assured that the process is underway and payments would begin soon.
“It is a process. When the government increases so and so, it will follow a process. We are in the process, very soon they will see it. It is not rocket science. It has been increased; nobody is saying it has not been increased.
“But the implementation is in process. And very soon, we are at the tip of it, it is going to start, and we will implement it perfectly,” he said.