National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Director-General Brig-Gen. Sule Kazaure yesterday said the poor release of funds to the scheme in the 2016 budget will affect mobilisation of eligible corps members this year.
He affirmed that mobilisation for all graduates remains compulsory as there was no plan to amend the Act establishing the scheme.
Kazaure said as a budget-dependent organisation, the scope of its activities was facing financial constraints as every government agency following recession.
He spoke with reporters in Abuja at his first media parley since assumption of office as the 17th director-general.
The NYSC D-G said: “In the past few weeks, the NYSC has been in the news over its presumed inability to mobilise all qualified prospective corps members for the 2016 Batch B service year.
“As much as there is always public interest in the affairs of the scheme, there is need to put the facts in their right perspective and clear the doubts.
“In summary, the NYSC is prepared to always mobilise qualified graduates for the next service year batch.
“However, it must be emphasised that as a budget dependent organisation, the scope of our activities is facing financial constraints as every other government agency in the recession.
“In the 2016 budget, provision was made for the mobilisation of 210,000 corps members. However, the figure for 2016 Batch A and Batch B more than doubled the original projection.”
“As we did before the 2016 Batch A Orientation, we have appealed to government for special intervention grant to mop up the excess of this figure.
“So far, we have received the green light from relevant government agencies to prepare for the mobilisation of all qualified prospective corps members.
However, the limited cumulative capacity of the orientation camps nationwide necessitates a second stream orientation course for the 2016 Batch B, which is being planned for January 2017,” he said.
Kazaure hailed the Federal Government for his unwavering support for the scheme.
“Within the last six months, Mr. President has had to intervene in our most difficult circumstances and approved special grants for mobilisation of excess prospective corps members.
The NYSC Director, Press and Public Relations, Abosede Aderibigbe, urged the media to always imbibe the ethical principles of objectivity and balanced reportage, especially in handling issues affecting the scheme.
She urged the media to join hands with the scheme to avert the negative impact of misrepresentation of facts.