The Minister of State for Youth Development, Engr. Ayodele Olawande has sued for calm, promising that all eligible graduates would be mobilized for NYSC amid growing apprehension by prospective corps members over inability to access the registration portal of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
Admitting reports of prospective corps members converging in some State secretariats of NYSC, Minister Olawande maintained that the NYSC is an equal opportunity scheme that would not deny any graduate his right to participate in the mandatory national service.
“I have engaged the NYSC management, and in actual fact, they wished they could mobilize all intending corps members. However, the 37 Camps nationwide have prescribed carrying capacity that must not be exceeded in order to effectively cater to the wellbeing and convenience of corps members.
“Therefore, registration automatically ceased whenever the maximum number required for each Batch and Stream is attained. This was not done with the intention to deny any intending corps member his right to fully participate in the NYSC programme,” Olawande explained.
While he apologised to all prospective corps members who experienced disappointment with the registration, the Minister observed that it was necessary to control enrollment into the camps in order not to overstretch the facilities and cause needless stress and discomfort for youth undertaking the national service scheme.
He reiterated his earlier promise to spearhead efforts to expand and improve NYSC Orientation Camps nationwide to enable an increase in the number of corps members the scheme could accommodate in each Batch.