The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has refuted claims that the purpose of its planned Trust Fund was to satisfy the financial needs of senior military leaders.
[keypoints]
- Trust Fund was established to address the infrastructure deficit plaguing the program
- 36 state governments including FCT were present during formulation
- NANS, ALGON, and civil society organizations all firmly backed the trust fund idea
[/keypoints]
In contrast, the Trust Fund was established to address the infrastructure deficit plaguing the program in the areas of camp renovation, maintenance, and upkeep as well as the upgrading, construction, and maintenance of corps members’ lodges, according to Mr Eddy Megwa, director of press and public relations for the NYSC, who made this claim in a statement on Friday in Abuja.
He claims that a meeting with some of the scheme’s stakeholders is where the decision to create the NYSC Trust Fund was made.
The 36 state governments and the FCT Administration were present at the conference, he continued.
He added that the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, and civil society organizations all firmly backed the trust fund idea (ALGON).
According to statute, the money for the program is split between the federal, state, and local governments, with each having a different level of responsibility.
In terms of supplying start-up finance, the scheme has worked with both public and non-governmental institutions on an equal basis over the years.
[quotation name=’Mr Eddy Megwa’]“This is for corps members to fund their business initiatives under the NYSC Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) programme which is a direct answer to the often asked rhetorical question: After the NYSC what next?[/quotation]
Megwa added that the fund would provide resources to help more corps members who completed the NYSC’s skills acquisition program launch their own enterprises.
He explained that contrary to what had been falsely stated in some quarters, the fund that had passed public hearings with civil organizations, academics, and other groups fully represented was not a pool of slush funds intended to satisfy the financial appetites of high military leaders.
Businesses operating in Nigeria are required by the bill, which has been approved by both chambers of the National Assembly, to contribute 1% of their net profits to the trust fund.
