The Director-General of the NYSC, Brigadier General Shuaibu Ibrahim, who stated this when he appeared before the House Committee on Youth Development for budget defence on Wednesday, said corps members were served a meal worth N217,

The National Youth Service Corps has lamented that inmates in the facilities of the Nigerian Correctional Service feed better than corps members.

The Director-General of the NYSC, Brigadier General Shuaibu Ibrahim, who stated this when he appeared before the House Committee on Youth Development for budget defence on Wednesday, said corps members were served a meal worth N217,

He, therefore, urged the House of Representatives to raise the allocation for feeding in the scheme’s budget for 2022.

The Senate Committee on Interior had on October 27, 2021, increased the daily feeding allowance of the Nigerian Correctional Service from its current N450 per person to a minimum of N1,000 per day.

Officials of the NCS were in the Senate to defend the 2022 budget of the Service, where they proposed an increment of the daily feeding allowance to N750.

The committee, however, described the amount as grossly inadequate and increased it in line with the current economic realities, pledging to undertake an upward review of inmates’ feeding cost from N450 to N1000 per day.

In his presentation, Ibrahim, who noted that it was his first ritual of presentation of the budget to the committee, said the budget of the NYSC remained the same over the years.

The DG said, “The only thing that I will tell you here is that sometimes last year, I promised the committee at the NYSC, we are putting on our thinking cap, that I don’t want us to always go cap in hand begging for funds so that, at least, we should do something to bring revenue to the table. This I did last year and we generated over N280m which we paid into the Federation Account. Our challenge is in the area of feeding. The budgetary approval for feeding per corps member is N650, which is grossly inadequate. By the time you divide it by three meals (per day), that is N216 per meal. So, we are appealing to this committee to please help us out. Even recently, at the Ministry of Interior, the feeding of prisoners was increased to N1,000. So, if we can feed criminals with N1,000, our graduates are putting their lives in the service of our country…I pray that this committee should please do something about it.”

The Chairman of the committee, Yemi Adaramodu, earlier in his opening remarks, noted that the NYSC had overhead costs as it was not a revenue-generating agency but one that manages people, especially young Nigerians.

The Director-General of NYSC, Brigadier-General Shuaibu Ibrahim made this announcement on Monday.

He, however, assured that the NYSC has intensified liaison with security agencies for to ensure the security of corps members wherever they are serving in the country.

He said with the annual mobilisation of over 300,000 corps members, the NYSC no doubt, “remains the most critical platform for mentoring Nigerian youths as drivers of national unity and development.”

“I wish to use this opportunity to again express our gratitude to the security agencies and other stakeholders for their support. Furthermore, the scheme has concluded arrangement with the NHIS for the enrolment of corps members into the NHIS in line with a presidential directive. We have also expended huge resources on critical health needs of corps members, including footing of medical bills,” he added.

Affirming this assurance, the DG noted that since the outbreak of the coronavirus in the country, it had not recorded any case among corps members and staff.

Ibrahim, according to a statement issued on Thursday by the Corps Director, Press and Public Relations, Adenike Adeyemi, said this in Jos at the 2020 Batch ‘B’ Pre-Orientation Workshop with the theme: ‘Evolving a dynamic operational strategy in the management of camps in the Context of COVID-19.’

He said management would continue to evaluate the conduct of Orientation Course as well as re-strategise towards enhancing its success due to its critical role as a launchpad for the service year.

“Management is committed to ensuring that no camp records outbreak of the virus. The 2020 Batch ‘A’ Stream One Orientation Course was suspended abruptly on the 18th of March, 2020 to avoid the outbreak of COVID – 19 in the Orientation Camps.

“In line with the current realities, our approach to the conduct of the forthcoming Orientation Course will focus on proper induction of corps members on core ideals of the Scheme, with equal attention paid to the approved safety protocols,” he stated.

Ibrahim further urged the workshop participants to fashion out other strategies for the successful conduct of the forthcoming Orientation Course.

“There is no gainsaying the fact that an environment that is conducive is crucial to the success of the Orientation programme, and indeed the entire Service Year. Management considers as highly commendable, the improvements in camp development in some states,” he said.

The Director-General appealed to state governments to discharge their statutory responsibilities of upgrading and expanding camp facilities to adequately serve the increasing population of corps members.

Director-General, Brigadier-General Shuaibu Ibrahim, gave the assurance through the Director of Public Affairs, Mrs. Adenike Adeyemi.

He said “As we earnestly look up to the Almighty God for help, management wishes to reassure all corps members once more that allowances for the months of March and April shall be paid to everyone, without recourse to the monthly clearance exercise. You are all enjoined to stay calm, stay safe, observe safety precautions given from time to time by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and always stay tuned to our traditional and new media platforms”