By LAJU ARENYEKA

The Lagos State co-ordinator of the National Youth Service Corps, (NYSC), Mr. Ladipo Laniyan, has said that the Federal Government’s decision to post corps members only to four sectors will ensure true service to the nation.

The sectors approved by President Goodluck Jonathan include: Rural Health, Primary and Secondary Education; Rural Infrastructural Development and Agricultural Development.

A circular released by the Ministry of Information revealed that the decision was taken to “discourage highly placed government officials and influential members of the society from seeking concessionary posting for prospective corps members specifically to metropolitan cities like Abuja and Lagos.”

Increasing number of corps members in the commercial capital
Prior to the new directive, corps members could be posted to any government or private organisation irrespective of the sector. Among other things, the opportunities that the nation’s commercial capital provides made it seem like an attractive starting point for school leavers rather than a tool to facilitate national integration and economic transformation.

“Before now, corps members wanted to go to banks, oil companies, and the likes,” said the Lagos NYSC  boss.“But the government felt that going there is not really  service to the nation. If they want to do actual service to the nation, those are the sectors where the government felt the services are needed.”

However, despite the implementation of the new policy, sources say that the new Batch A Corps members in Lagos alone are more than 5,000. Although NYSC did not confirm the figures, Laniyan said: “I can’t give a definite number now. The number we had on camp is nothing to go by, as a lot of people are still redeploying to Lagos.”

Structures to absorb work force in the four sectors
Since vacation from the orientation camp last Tuesday, some corps members have been rejected from their places of primary assignment. With the work force being concentrated in four sectors, the question as to whether structures have been put in place to adequately engage these corps members begs for an answer.

So far, the NYSC has not made any known efforts towards expanding structures in the sectors to assimilate the increased work force.

In response to this, the Lagos NYSC boss said: “The education sector alone can absorb all our corps members because there are so many schools. But the challenge is that even if all the schools can absorb them, the request by the government will be a limiting factor in the sense that in as much as they want corps members to be in those sectors, there are likely to be budget constraints in terms of resources to pay the corps members.”

Continuing on economic terms, Laniyan said that about 99 per cent of corps members serving in Lagos State already have accommodation within the metropolis. According to him: “These allowances being paid are in lieu of transportation and accommodation. And if we aren’t taking them far from their abode, then the issue of allowance does not come in.”

One Batch A corps member who did not want her name in print told Vanguard Learning: “The school I was posted to is very far from my house, and the proprietor has said that he is not paying us any allowance.”

Retaining policy of companies
The new policy is likely to affect some companies’ tradition of retaining corps members after their service year. In response to this, the Lagos state coordinator said: “The period of NYSC is not a period of internship.”

He also added that some companies who have in the past used the NYSC scheme as cheap labour, paying corps members stipends and refusing to employ them as permanent staff, will now be forced to employ graduates on a more permanent basis.