By Sani Idris

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has solicited support for the establishment of a Trust Fund that would enable the scheme manage its operations effectively.

The Kaduna state Coordinator, Alhaji Isa Wana, made the call while launching NYSC members into the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) programme in Kaduna, on Friday.

Wana said that the Trust Fund bill had scaled the second reading and was awaiting a public hearing on Feb. 24.

He said that since its establishment on May 22, 1973, the scheme had always relied on the national budget for its programmes, and that COVID-19 had reduced its sources of revenue to government, which also affected the scheme.

“We cannot continue to beg the government for funds; this is why the scheme came up with the idea to lobby the government to form a trust fund for the NYSC.

“The trust fund would be derived from all awarded contracts of the Federal Government which, in a short time, would have accumulated large enough to service our needs without the national budget.

“The trust fund will also be large enough to sponsor and expand, give grants and loans to corps members who have business ideas on our Saed programme and also expand orientation camps,” he said.

The coordinator noted that with more than 350,000 corps members graduating annually from the scheme, the government could not afford to provide jobs for every one of them.

“With the dangers attached to unemployment, let us campaign for the NYSC trust fund, to ameliorate the burden of unemployment, through our programmes aim at equipping members with skills and other needs to be self-reliant after graduating.

“The gathering here today is to start with corps members, who are our primary clients, to help us search for a Trust Fund for the scheme,” he added.

Wana called on the corps members to embrace and campaign for the establishment of the trust fund, noting that, “It is the launch pad to the future of the country.

“Don’t forget that NYSC is the only youth-based organisation in the country for now, if the government does anything for the scheme, it has done it to the youths of the nation which of course will halt restiveness.

“Our own way in contributing to giving Nigerians good governance is by giving the youths a future that they are certain of, and it can only be done through the NYSC trust fund,” Wana said.

Mr Adam Sage, NHIS representative from Abuja, said that the pursuit to establish NHIS started in 2016, when some corps members lost their lives in an accident.

Sage said that in September 2021, the NHIS and NYSC signed a Memorandum of Understanding to bring the scheme active and cover all corps members.

Thus, the NHIS and the scheme designed the Group Individual Family Social Health Insurance Programme specifically to accommodate corps members.

He said that corps members serving in Kaduna had five accredited hospitals to choose from but could only switch from one hospital to the other once in three months.

“Corps members are covered by the insurance from the beginning to the end of their service year, It is meant for them only and not for their family members.

“They can however, continue enjoying the NHIS after their service by paying N15, 000 annually”, he said.

Sage urged the corps members to complete their registration on the NHIS portal. (NAN)

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ASUU Strike: Nigerian students threaten to shut down ministry of education, labour

BAYO WAHAB

February 18, 2022 11:44 AM

The NANS President says the offices of the Minister of Education and Minister of Labour cannot be operating while schools are shuttered.

ASUU Strike: Nigerian students threaten to shut down ministry of education, labour.

In a bid to register students grievances about the ongoing ASUU strike, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Sunday Isefon has threatened to shut down the ministry of education and labour.

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The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had on Monday, February 14, 2022, declared a total strike to press home their demands from the Federal Government.

The strike action has entered day four and Nigerian students believe it’s high time they expressed their displeasure over the situation.

Speaking during a telephone interview on Nigeria Info’s ‘Morning Cross Fire’ on Friday, February 18, 2022, the President of the Nigerian Students Association, Isefon said the Nigerian students would soon speak the language the oppressors understand.

When asked to clarify what he meant by speaking the language the oppressors understand.

He said, “The language the oppressors understand is confrontation and we are going to confront them in a way that will shock them".

Asked further to clarify what he meant by confrontation, Isefon said the offices of the Minister of Education and Minister of Labour could not be operating while schools are shuttered.

He said, “By this time tomorrow, latest by 12 pm, there will be a decision from the Nigerian students. It is not going to be a decision of NANS president alone, it is going to be a decision of entire students in Nigerian students. We are meeting and we are going to make a decision that would be very suitable for us. The office of the minister of labour can not be operating, the office of the minister of education can not be operating while our schools are under lock and key. It is not going to happen.

"I gave them an example on Monday, I was in the office of the minister of labour and I shut it down for about three hours., and I told them when I addressed the press that this is just a child’s play that we are coming back".

Asefon also said Nigerian Students' agitations could no longer be solved through dialogue anymore, adding that ASUU had gone on strike over 15 times despite its several negotiations with the Federal Government.

The NANS president also advised ASUU to change its strategy, saying the union should not continue to negotiate with the government only to embark on another round of industrial action.