Reps seek improved funding for NYSC

The House of Representatives is set to debate the general principles of a bill seeking to provide a sustainable source of funding for the National Youth Service Corps, for the training and empowerment of corps members.

Titled “The NYSC Trust Fund (Establishment) Bill 2024,” the proposed legislation, sponsored by the lawmaker representing Nasarawa/Toro Federal Constituency of Nasarawa State, was read on the floor of the Green Chamber a fortnight ago.

A copy of the bill exclusively obtained by The PUNCH on Tuesday showed that the main objective was to provide a legal framework for the management and control of the special intervention fund to provide sources of funds for NYSC skills acquisition, training and empowerment of corps members.

Section 2(1) provides that the Trust Fund shall “Cover all corps, personnel of the NYSC, orientation camps, formations, facilities and the overall improvement and efficiency in the discharge of their duties and responsibilities.”

When established, the Trust Fund shall consist of “0.2 per cent of total revenue accruing to the Consolidated Revenue Fund, any take-off grant and special intervention fund as may be provided by the Federal Government and such money as may be appropriated to meet the bill’s objective.”

The fund shall also consist of “aids, grants and assistance from international bilateral and multilateral agencies, non-governmental organisations and the organised private sector, grants, donations, endowments, bequests and gifts, whether of money, land or any other property from any source, and money derived from investments made by the Trust Fund.”

Purpose of the Fund

In Section 5(1), the bill provides that the Fund shall be used for “meeting the skill acquisition training and empowerment of corps members; meeting the training and re-training needs of the personnel of the NYSC; enhancement of the skills of corps members for improved proficiency and employment generation, as well as the overall improvement, performance and efficiency in the discharge of constitutional roles and responsibilities.”

Others are “Financing the procurement of operational books, instructional materials, vehicles and equipment for use for the attainment of its organisational objectives and expansion of existing NYSC ventures and funding of the establishment of new ones for the training of corps members and production of items required for the institutional needs at orientation camps.”

The bill also proposed a Board of Trustees for the Fund, which shall consist of “a chairman and members of the NYSC National Governing Board, one person each from the Federal Ministries of Youth Development and Finance and the private sector.”

Others include the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum or his representative; the President of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria or his representative and a retired director of the NYSC shall serve as the secretary of the board.

The board is to regulate the administration, application and disbursement of money from the Trust Fund.

It shall also set out the policies and programmes for the training and empowerment of exiting corps members, training and retraining of NYSC personnel, and development of orientation camps and NYSC offices with facilities in accordance with the objectives of the bill.

It shall also be the role of the board to approve “The disbursement of money from the Trust Fund to finance projects or activities of the NYSC and its formations being beneficiaries of the proceeds of the Trust Fund.”

The bill empowers the board in Section 13 (1) to “award contracts, whether in local or foreign currency in conformity with the due process requirements as provided in any law, rule, guideline or regulation.”

In the discharge of its duty, the proposed law provides that the board shall “Identify the funding needs of the various programmes and activities of the NYSC and its formations for the enhancement of the performance of the scheme; enter into contractual arrangements to execute approved projects on behalf of the Trust Fund and oversee the implementation of projects financed through money accruing to the Fund.”