Nigeria’s MDAs ignore Osinbajo, reject Corps members

Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies in Abuja are rejecting members of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, posted to them for the compulsory one-year service, despite a policy directive by the Nigerian government against their rejection.

The Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, had warned that no corps member should be rejected, in line with the government policy forbidding MDAs from denying NYSC members a place to carry out their primary assignment.

Mr. Osinbajo gave the warning on May 25 during the swearing-in ceremony of the 2017 NYSC Batch ‘A’ Stream I corps members at the Permanent Orientation Camp, Kubwa, Abuja at which he was represented by the Director, Human Resources, Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, Amina Abubakar.

The acting president stressed that the policy was still in effect, urging parastatals to ensure its full implementation.

Despite the warning, however, some corps members in Abuja are being confronted with rejection by agencies of the federal government where they were posted for their primary assignment.

The affected corps members are from the 2017 Batch A (stream 1), who completed their three weeks orientation programme last week.

Premium Times spoke to many affected corps members, all of whom asked that only their first names be used to avoid any form of victimisation as they were still seeking for places of primary assignment.

Safiya, one of the affected corps members, was posted to the Public Complaints Commission for her primary assignment. But the commission told all the corps members posted there that it does not accept NYSC corps members.

Another corps member, Halima, also said she was rejected by the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA. She said the agency claimed to have over 180 corps members serving there and therefore cannot accept more.

The corps members posted to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, also revealed and they were all rejected by the agency.

A corps member, Ebuka, who was posted to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, also revealed that the corporation refused to accept any corps member and offered no reason for their rejection.

Reacting to the development, the spokesperson of NYSC, Bose Aderibigbe, said the corps was trying to ensure that all corps members are accepted and settled into their places of primary assignment.

“NYSC is aware of the situation and right now, a circular has been passed across to all MDAs, warning them against rejecting any corps member,” Mrs. Aderibigbe said.