Joel Ajayi

As the much-awaited 2023 General Election is around the corner, one of the most important stakeholders, the National Youth Service Corps NYSC, has sought for the review of allowances paid to the Adhoc Corps Members to enable them meet up with the present economic situation in the country.

Acting Director General of the Scheme made this appeal on Friday in Abuja, when Independent National Electoral Commission INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu visited the NYSC to solicit more support from the scheme for the success of the forthcoming general election in February.

She expressed that NYSC is committed to the partnership with INEC and will not leave any stone unturned to ensure success of the 2023 General Election.

According to her, NYSC is committed to the partnership with INEC, we have come a long way and we can’t go back, a lot has been achieved and the Corps Members are waiting for this election, they are very interested and they will make sure they work hard and get things right.

“We need to work in our present reality, there is a need to review the allowances paid to the corps members. 

“The Chairman should please look at the conditions and ensure some level of improvement as contained in the MoU, this will enable them to meet up with the economic situation in the country.”

Speaking on the Scheme preparedness for the February election, Mrs Uba said the Scheme had put in place measures to ensure hitch free election.

 “We have directed all the state coordinators to encourage all the corps members to register on the INEC portal.

“While Corps welfare and health service department is expected to visit the state to assure corps members and staff of the commission the commitment of INEC and NYSC of their safety while on election duty to further encourage them on insecurity.

“On our part, we have directed all state coordinators to liaise with DSS and other security agencies to identify crisis prone areas in the state.

“Also, a budget proposal for the nationwide sensitization of corps members and staff in readiness for the 2023 election has been submitted to INEC Chairman in which prompt approval will assist NYSC Marshal out her operation in this regard.”

She urged INEC to leverage on the forthcoming orientation course to sensitize 2023 batch A Corps members.

Speaking earlier, the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mr Mahmood Yakubu, said the commission will continue to place a premium on the security of corps members on election duty. 

He said: “the role of corps members is the most critical in the election value chain because they operate at the most important level of election which is the polling unit, the only level where citizens actually vote. 

“So for that reason, we will also extend insurance cover in case of injury or other emergencies to all corps members involved in election duty.

“Working with the security agencies, we will also extend protection and security to the youth corps members’ lodges when they are deployed to the field on Election Day.

“This is because we have had some unhappy experiences before when some hoodlums raided the corpers’ lodges in some places while they were on election duty.”

It will be recalled that both organizations signed a review of the MoU in March 2022 in preparation for the general elections in February.

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