Crises In NYSC Over Deductions From Corpers Allowee

In what has emerged like a replay of the
Police Equipment Fund scandal, a crisis is
at present brewing within the National
Youth Service Corps (NYSC) over the
compulsory one-off deduction of N500
from the allowances of corps members to
fund a scheme that is ostensibly a private
concern, but registered as NYSC
Foundation.
The foundation is believed to have
benefitted from corps members’
contributions running into millions of naira.
NYSC mobilises at least 300,000 young
graduates of tertiary institutions annually.
THISDAY investigation revealed that the
scam all began in 2007 with the approval of
the then management of NYSC.
But the foundation, speaking through its
Executive Secretary Mr. Sayo Banjo
Akinnigbagbe, said the deductions were not
compulsory.
According to documents obtained by
THISDAY, the NYSC Board in August 2007,
under the leadership of Alhaji Mahmood
Baffa as acting Chairman of NYSC, with
Brigadier- General Yusuf Bomai as Director-
General, had approved “the mandatory
registration of corps members into the
NYSC Foundation at the point of discharge
from service”.
The same documents also disclosed that
the then Secretary of the Foundation,
Barrister (Mrs.) N.E Ukagha, had informed
the Board that, “the Foundation is a Non-
Governmental Organisation, that would
have its secretariat and staff independent
of the NYSC.”
Following the documents, members of the
board had agreed that the idea was a
laudable one, but sought to know the
relationship between NYSC and the
foundation.
DG Bomai at a meeting of the NYSC Board
held on August 22, 2007 at Rockview Hotel,
Abuja had, however, explained that the
relationship between NYSC and the
foundation was like that between
universities and their alumni associations,
adding that the funds generated by the
foundation would be used to finance
strategic projects or programmes of the
scheme.
According to documents obtained by
THISDAY, Bomai had said: “The public
would find it difficult to deal with the NYSC
on fund generation but would be at ease to
relate to the foundation.”
The foundation was registered with the
name and logo of NYSC but a source said
this might have been a deliberate ploy to
deceive the corps members and potential
philanthropists into contributing to the
cause.
He queried how the NYSC management
would ensure the channelling of funds
accruing to the foundation back to the
scheme if the foundation is independent of
the scheme.
“What legal backing does the NYSC have to
allow the compulsory deductions from the
corps members’ allowances,” the source
queried.
According to THISDAY investigation, there is
no information about the foundation on
the NYSC website. The foundation is also
conspicuously missing from the NYSC’s list
of partners and collaborators, which
include International Institute for
Sustainable Development (IISD) and John
Hopkins University.
Others are Ea-Net Africa, Energy
Commission of Nigeria (ECN), UNICEF,
USAID, WHO, UNESCO, British council,
World Bank, WOTCLEF, US Embassy, NDLEA,
ICPC, EFCC, SERVICOM and Legal Aid
Council.
The constitution of the foundation in Article
2, Subsection 3 states, “The foundation is a
private sector initiative for the National
Youth Service Corps.”
Also Article 5, Subsection D. 2 on Grand
Patron and Life Patron states, “(I). The
incumbent Head of State shall be the Grand
Patron. II. The founder (Head of State) of
the National Youth Service Corps shall be
the Life Patron and Chairman of the Board
of Patrons.
The Trustees listed on the back page of the
Certificate of Incorporation were Mr. Remi
Olowude, Major General S.K Omojokun
(rtd), Major General H. B Momoh, Brigadier
General S.M Dule, Alhaji Abubakar
Abdullahi, Mr. Banjo Akinnigbagbe and Mrs.
Nwano Eze-Ukagha.
It is, however, not clear if the afore-
mentioned are still trustees of the
foundation, which was registered by the
CAC in 1999.
A Batch B, 2012 corps member, who simply
gave his name as Ikechukwu, said he tried
to apply for the loan provided by the
foundations, but the NYSC officials in Kogi
State did not seem to know much about
how he would go about it.
“I did not get convincing details; they
seemed confused and were just giving me
conflicting details,” he said.
Another former corps member said in a
post on www.nairaland.com , “What I
gathered is that the repayment period is 18
months with three months moratorium at a
five percent interest rate.
“The requirements are submission of
business proposal, civil servant guarantors,
evidence of repayment and application
letter, which would be submitted to the
NYSC secretariat. Your discharge certificate
is the only collateral required and would be
held until the last dime is paid.”
THISDAY enquiries revealed that some of
the members of staff of NYSC were not
even aware that the foundation was
independent of the NYSC.
“Are you sure the foundation is not part of
us? It should not have been possible for
them to use NYSC logo if they are not part
of NYSC. We here have defended the N500
deductions,” an official of the NYSC, who
pleaded not to be named, told this
reporter.
When THISDAY visited the foundation’s
headquarters on 3, Gwani Street, Zone 4,
Abuja, its Executive Secretary Akinnigbagbe
said the deductions were not compulsory.
He, however, could not provide the exact
number of the voluntary ex-corps members
of the foundation, a development he
blamed on NYSC desk officers who are
responsible for sensitising the corps
members during orientation on the
activities of the foundation.
Akinnigbagbe, who retired in 2003 as a
Director at the NYSC headquarters in Abuja,
said the plan of the foundation was to set
up a database of the ex-corps members
who are members of the foundation, but
the NYSC desk officers regularly failed to
send in the list of the subscribed members.
He, however, noted that all subscription
funds get to the foundation.
The Chairman of the NYSC, Chief Gordon
Bozimo, in a telephone conversation with
THISDAY, however, disclosed that the
board when it was inaugurated in July was
not briefed about the activities of the
foundation by the management.
He said the board had directed that the
deductions be stopped forthwith.
Akinnigbagbe presented the funds collected
in states in the last two years as
N51,422,955 for 2009/2010 batches,
N42,802,800 for 2010/2011 batches and
N51,784,300 for 2011/2012 batches.
“If it was compulsory, would this be all that
would have been collected,” he said.
He added that the foundation also had
about N14 million outstanding that some of
the beneficiaries had refused to refund.
Some refunded their loans after letters
were written to them and their names
published in national dailies.
Some, according to him, have their
guarantors gradually paying back the loan.
The foundation, in its profile, said it had
given soft loans not exceeding N400,000
each to 87 former corps members.
Financial documents obtained by THISDAY
showed that the foundation had built and
furnished a 150 capacity Corpers Lodge in
Jos, Plateau State at the cost of N57, 504,
624. Other donations on the profile of the
foundation are 500 double bunk beds (Abia
State camp), four units of eight-room VIP
toilets (Cross River State), four units of 40
feet Julius Berger shipment containers as
storage for orientation course materials
(Nasarawa State) and 500 chairs, 25 tables
and a collapsible podium (Kebbi).
Others are 10 units of VIP toilets (Gombe)
220 Kv generator (Ogun), 150 double bunk
beds and 300 mattresses (FCT) and five
mobile toilets and bathrooms (Lagos).
The records made available to THISDAY
showed that since inception, the
foundation had collected N337, 555,010.16,
all from membership subscription.
Following the records, N24, 262,300 had
been given as loans to 85 ex-corps
members, while N20,395,000 had been
approved for disbursement to 51 ex- corps
members later in October.
The records also showed that the
foundation has N82,635,203.18 in its
accounts in fixed and current accounts with
Eco-Bank and Zenith bank alongside a
revolving loan account with Zenith Bank
with a current balance of N13,332,336.58.
THISDAY, however, could not
independently verify these figures.
But Bozimo said: “What happened is that
the DG at the time (2007) convinced the
board to allow the deductions, but no
board has such power. Issues like this are
high policy matters that need government
approval, it is just like the public university
that cannot increase fees without the
approval of the Ministry of Education”.
Describing the deductions as an anomaly,
Bozimo disclosed that the Executive
Secretary of the foundation and a member
of Board of Trustee of the Foundation had
already appeared before a committee.
The findings of the board, he said, would
soon be presented to the Ministry of Youth
Development, which oversees the NYSC as a
parastatal.
“From our perspective, we have seen that
the relationship between the foundation
and the NYSC is not clear,” Bozimo said.
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