Brig.-Gen. Shu’aibu Ibrahim, the Director-General (DG) of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), has warned employers not to “overuse” Corps Members, instead they should treat them as permanent employees.
Ibrahim made the request at a 2021 NYSC Corps employers workshop in Kaduna on Wednesday, represented by the scheme’s North West Area Office Director, Hajiya Zainab Isah.
The workshop’s theme was ‘Optimising the NYSC Corps Employers Partnership for National Development in the Context of the New Normal,’ according to the Nigerian News Agency (NAN).
Ibrahim lamented that the Corps employers sometimes don’t assign the Corps Members the roles which were befitting as graduates.
“Some of the Corps employers give the Corps Members too much work load and they hardly allow them go on break”.
The DG, however, noted that the scheme would monitor and stop such kinds of attitudes by Corps employers.
“Employers should treat the Corps Members as their own permanent staff as they are also their responsibilities during the course of the national service.
“The health and well-being of the Corps members is very key as that of permanent staff in any organisation, they must take care of them to complement the scheme in trying its best in ensuring their safety and health.
“The scheme is doing its best financially and otherwise to take care of the Corps Members, detaching the Corps Members from their biological parents automatically goes down to the NYSC staff and Corps employers from assuming the roles of their parents,” the DG said.
He also warned Corps employers about waiting too long or not applying at all for Corps members’ services and expecting them to be posted.
He also disapproves of increasing Corps member rejection, assisting them in staging their own rejection, delaying the issuance of monthly clearance to qualified Corps members, and assisting their abscondment.
The DG, on the other hand, cautioned Corps members against unapproved travel, truancy, and putting personal security first.
Alhaji Isah Wana, the scheme’s State Coordinator, had previously stated that the scheme’s objectives could only be preserved via the combined efforts of all stakeholders, including the Corps members’ supervisors.
He said the workshop was aimed at obtaining feedback from the strategic stakeholders on the strength, weaknesses, and potentials of the scheme as well as chart ways of strengthening its operations.
NAN
