The National Youth Service Corps has lamented the poor financial allocation to it, adding that inmates in the facilities of the Nigerian Correctional Service feed better than corps members.
The Director-General of the NYSC, Brigadier General Shuaibu Ibrahim, said this when he appeared before the House Committee on Youth Development for budget defence on Wednesday.
He told the lawmakers that corps members were served a meal worth N217,
He, therefore, urged the House of Representatives to raise the allocation for feeding in the scheme’s budget for 2022.
In his presentation, Ibrahim, who noted that it was his first ritual of presentation of the budget to the committee, said the budget of the NYSC remained the same over the years.
The DG said, “Our challenge is in the area of feeding. The budgetary approval for feeding per corps member is N650, which is grossly inadequate. By the time you divide it by three meals (per day), that is N216 per meal. So, we are appealing to this committee to please help us out.
“Even recently, at the Ministry of Interior, the feeding of prisoners was increased to N1,000. So, if we can feed criminals with N1,000, our graduates are putting their lives in the service of our country…I pray that this committee should please do something about it.”
