The management of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has opened an area office in Enugu to meet the needs of the increasing number of corps members mobilised annually in the South-East.
The Area Coordinator, Alhaji Ahmed Ikaka, at the inaugural meeting with members of staff of the scheme on Tuesday in Enugu, said the office would serve the five states in the South-East.
Ikaka said the management of the scheme had experimented with the area offices in the six geopolitical zones in the 1990s, but could not sustain them.
“However, the number of corps members mobilised annually which stands at 350, 000 has made it necessary to revisit the idea.
“The Federal Government feels that there is a need for more robust and effective supervision of corps members due to the increase and sophistication involved in managing them.
“The area office structure was a decentralised system where the NYSC headquarters would cede some of its functions to the zones.
“When fully operational, allocation of corps members in the Southeast including the provision of finances and supply of orientation course materials will be done here,” Ikaka said.
He said the NYSC was fully ready for the takeoff of the area office, adding that the state government had pledged its commitment to support it.
Earlier, the Enugu State Coordinator of NYSC, Mr Stephen Dewan, said that the scheme had been better positioned to attain its mission in the state.
Dewan said that though some of the scheme’s challenges still persisted, “we have made appreciable strides in the development of the orientation camp.
“We are better positioned to face the work in the days ahead.”