Brig.-Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim, Director-General, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), on Tuesday, disclosed that the scheme had put in place commercial platforms to boost its internally-generated revenue (IGR).
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Ibrahim, who made this disclosure on the sidelines of a three-day workshop, organised for members of staff of the corps, said that this was aimed at reducing dependence on the Federal Government.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop, tagged “Inspectors Development Programme” (IDP), was held at the NYSC Magaji Dan Yamusa Orientation Camp in Keffi Local Government area of Nasarawa state.
NAN also reports that the theme of the programme was: “Enhancing the capacity of the NYSC Inspectors for Effective Service Delivery.”
The NYSC boss said that it was the scheme’s plan to generate revenue through some of its commercial initiatives.
He listed some of the scheme’s business establishments to include garment factory, table water factory and farms, among others.
This, he said, would go a long way in supporting the scheme to carry out its activities; hence the need to leverage on them and also reduce the burden on the Federal Government.
“We are leveraging on several of our platforms, such as Information Technology (ICT), to generate revenue.
“We also have ventures, such as garment factory, table water factory, bakery, farms and others.
“Also, the NYSC scheme has applied for licence to start a Frequency Modulation (FM) radio station, which, apart from being a training ground, can also generate revenue.
“All these are steps towards complementing the Federal Government’s efforts in the funding of the scheme,” he said.
Ibrahim explained that over the years, the corps members’ population had continued to grow, adding that it was necessary to think out of the box and come up with alternative sources of funding.
He said that the funding from the Federal Government, coupled with the scheme’s IGR, would afford it the capacity to take care of the needs of corps members and staff as well as carry out numerous activities in host communities across the country.
He then urged corps members and members of staff of the scheme to redouble their efforts in the attainment of the scheme’s goals.
NAN reports that 200 NYSC zonal and local government inspectors across the country attended the programme.