We assure tight security for corps members who will serve as ad hoc staff in 2015 elections – NYSC D-G Olawumi

You have been the DG of NYSC for a year. What will you consider the major achievements of the scheme under your watch? When I came on board, and after a careful study of the NYSC, I came up with my vision for the Scheme and with that vision came a four-point agenda. For me, […]

You have been the DG of NYSC for a year. What will you consider the major achievements of the scheme under your watch?
When I came on board, and after a careful study of the NYSC, I came up with my vision for the Scheme and with that vision came a four-point agenda. For me, everything centres on the welfare of corps members and staff. What I consider my biggest achievement is the increased focus that the welfare of corps members now enjoys from the Scheme. I will break this into three categories: before the corps members come in, during their service year and after they leave us.
We started the online mobilisation last year because we found out that in the past we had lost some prospective corps members to accidents on their way to collect their call-up letters. That was one of the main reasons why we started e-mobilisation and online processing and printing of call-up letters. For me, this is looking out for them even before they become corps members.
During the service year, the most critical thing in terms of welfare of corps members is their safety and security, and this starts from when they are in camp. We now have enhanced safety and security of our corps members through increased collaboration with all security agencies. And I will tell you that in spite of the numerous security challenges that we have had in the country, our orientation camps have been well protected and free of any ugly incident.

How far have you gone in implementing the four-point agenda?
The four-point agenda has been our roadmap. And it has helped in keeping us on track, especially in terms of increasing the service content of the Scheme and improving the welfare of corps members. I will give you a few examples. Now, corps members participate in monthly sanitation exercises across the country, not only for cleaning but more importantly by sensitizing the people on the need for them to come out and clean their surroundings.
Then we came up with another programme tagged Health Initiative for Rural Dwellers. We launched the pilot scheme of that programme in Igbo-Owu, Kwara State and as we speak, there are five other states in the waiting.
What we did was that we partnered with the state government and a non-governmental organisation, the Royal Health Foundation. The state government gave us the location and some drugs, the NGO provided ambulance and drugs too and mobilised the community, while NYSC mobilised the manpower such as corps doctors, pharmacists, laboratory scientists and others.
On the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), the NYSC formed part of the integrated framework for the containment of the disease. Many people might not be aware of this. We came up with the NYSC Combating Ebola Virus Disease programme. Because corps members are well dispersed in all the nooks and crannies of this country, we organised seminars where some corps members were trained on how to sensitise communities about Ebola, and how to identify, report and handle infections.  
We also have the Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development programme (SAED) through which we have trained over 400,000 corps members in about 12 different skills in the last two years. Within the last one year, we have built an ultra-modern bakery and a table water plant in Kubwa, in the Federal Capital Territory.

A major highlight of the NYSC under you is the online registration fee. Do you still think you made the right decision on this?
To me, the issue of e-mobilisation is one of the best things that have happened to the scheme. We started it with Batch C last year and I am aware that there were lots of complaints over the issue of payment. After that we had a stakeholders’ meeting whereby we brought together parents, civil society groups, student bodies and even people from the universities who are not members of NANS, and everybody agreed that it’s a very laudable programme.
But the issue was the amount involved. We made them understand that government cannot finance it now because of competing needs and because it requires the provision of hardware and network infrastructure in all the 37 orientation camps, in all the 37 state secretariats and the headquarters in Abuja, with the overall  cost running to about N800 million.
We realised that there was no way government can fund it ahead of things like food, kits and allowances for corps members. That was why we went into the PPP arrangement.
We made the payment for online processing of call-up letters optional because we realised that it might not be everybody that would want to use that facility. What that means was that those who feel they want to travel to collect their call-up letters from their schools can still do so. The status quo remains. But during the last stakeholders meeting we prevailed on the consultant and the result was that for Batch A this year, the amount has been reduced to N3000.

Security of corps members has been an issue lately, especially with their participation in elections. What steps are you taking to ensure the corpers are secure?   
The decision was taken in 2010 when we signed an MOU with INEC for corps members to take part as ad-hoc staff in the conduct of elections. Since then, corps members have been taking part and contributing so much to improving our elections.
A dimension that was introduced late last year is that we are no longer the ones who submit names of corps members to INEC. INEC opened their portal and asked interested corps members to register and they registered. They were not forced; they registered on their own volition. That was why from the over 240,000 corps members that we have, only about 168,000 registered, which means close to 80,000 did not register. Any parent who does not want his or her child to take part must have told the child not to register. Also, corps members who do not feel inclined on their own will not register.
We still believe that corpers’ security and safety is our primary responsibility and we are prepared to do that to the best of our ability.

With the rising number of corps members but dwindling revenues, some doubt the sustainability of the Scheme. What are your thoughts on this?
There is no doubt that the population of corps members per year has been increasing. From a paltry 2,364 in 1973, we have today hit about 249,000 and our projection based on the number of universities springing up shows that in the next four to five years, the corps population might hit 350,000.
This comes with its own challenge because resources are dwindling. So we are working on so many strategies to reposition the Scheme to be able to meet these challenges that we are anticipating.

Can you shed more light on the skills acquisition programme and the rationale behind it?
The Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneur Development programme (SAED) came into being because we were looking at how to use the NYSC to address the issue of unemployment in Nigeria. You will recall that when the scheme started in 1973, the key issue then was integration and national unity. We realised that 42 years down the line, we might still be having issues with unity and national integration, but the challenge of unemployment is more pressing.
So the Scheme came up with the SAED programme. What we do is that from orientation camps we sensitize them to change their mind-set to turn them from job seekers to job creators. We train them in the orientation camps. We have about 12 approved areas such as farming, poultry, beads making, fashion designing, make-up and a host of others. Beyond the training, we also link them with established people in their areas of interests during their primary assignments.
However, a major problem we noticed is that when we train them, most of them do not have start-up capital. Because of that, we have signed an MOU with the Bank of Industry. Although they have not started disbursing, it’s ongoing to ensure that the start-up capital is always available.
We also try to encourage corps members who have inbuilt skills by nurturing them and helping them to achieve their potentials. That was one of the reasons for the NYSC National Band where we pulled together about 60 corps members who have talents in music, singing or playing one or two musical instruments. We also did same for football. Now, we have an NYSC standing football team that is making waves in the FCT league. Recently, they played the Super Eagles. Some of them have been approached by clubs because of the exposure we have given them during the service year.
We are also looking at partnerships with Nollywood so that those who are already into acting or who have talents in that area can get the necessary training, exposure and patronage.

Could you expatiate on the NYSC Hope Alive Programme?
The motivating factor in our establishing the NYSC Hope Alive Programme stems from the fact that when I came into the Scheme most times I read in the media about the plight of corps members who in the course of service got permanently disabled. And I felt that there should be a way we can address this.
Yes, government has provided an insurance cover for anybody who dies or incurs permanent disability during the course of the service year. The insurance cover is now N1 million. But we have also recognised that this money is not sufficient. We realised that we must give these young men and women something that will give them hope about our country. And one way we could start is to make sure no one who suffers disability in the course of service is abandoned.
That was what led to the establishment of the NYSC Hope Alive Programme. It is a public-private sector driven empowerment programme designed to provide succour to corps members who become disabled during the course of the service year. It has been flagged off. Heritage Bank gave the first beneficiaries N1.5 million each. The governor of Akwa Ibom and Ibeto Group also chipped in.