Prioritise youth corps members’ welfare – NYSC urges employers

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has urged employers to prioritise welfare of corps members posted to them.

The Director of NYSC, South-South, Mr Baba Ladan, made the appeal on Thursday during the 2023 NYSC Corps Employers Workshop in Delta.

The workshop was entitled “Harnessing The Potential of Corps Members through Effective Utilisation: The Role of Corps Employers”.

Ladan said that prioritising their welfare  would go a long way in boosting the morale of corps members and make them to perform optimally.

“The theme was carefully chosen to also emphasize our collective roles towards effective utilization of the service of corps members during their primary and secondary assignments.

“As critical stakeholders in the scheme,  employers are saddled with the provision of facilities that are essential to the welfare of  corps members and the smooth operations of the scheme.

“The NYSC Corps Employers’ Workshop creates a vital forum at which our corps employers and NYSC management can rub minds on how to improve on corps welfare and move the scheme forward in our various communities.

“The management and facilitators of the scheme can obtain firsthand information about corps employer-employee relationship as well as receive suggestions to improve the scheme’s performance, especially the productivity of corps members in their various places of primary assignment” he said.

He said that in spite of NYSC’s  efforts in addressing the challenges of corps members administration, some lapses still persisted on the part of corps employers.

He listed the challenges to include delay in applying or not applying at all, for the services of corps members, increasing rate of rejecting  corps members, and aiding corps members to stage-manage their rejection.

He added that the challenges include under-utilisation of corps members, delay in  issuance of monthly and final clearance letters to deserving corps members, and lack of or inadequate provision of statutory welfare needs of corps members such as accommodation and transport facilities.

Ladan said that demonstration of apathy and lack of commitment to corps members’ security as well as lack of support for corps member’s Community Development Service (CDS) were also challenges.

He regretted that some employers approved leave passes for corps members without  due process, while others aided abscondment of corps members.

The official also said that some employers treated  corps members badly.

He urged the workshop participants to deliberate and evolve  strategies to tackle the issues in order to sustain the services of the scheme.

Mr Olusegun Alao, Delta State Coordinator of NYSC,  said that the workshop would serve as a means of strengthening engagement and utilisation of corps members and enhancing their service delivery.

“As we convene here today, we anticipate valuable insights from both the NYSC management and corps employers.

“This workshop aims to solicit feedback from our critical stakeholders and assess the strengths, weaknesses and potential of the scheme.

“We aspire to generate ideas that will fortify our operations and scrutinize the implementation of corps employers’ obligations, thereby channeling the knowledge, skills and talents of our youth towards nation-building.