By Dirisu Yakubu
Former First Lady of Lagos State, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, on Wednesday drummed up support for holistic and modern reforms in the National Youth Service Corps.
The wife of the presidential candidate for All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, stated that such progressive reforms, which would give the corps a robust outlook, were long overdue.
Tinubu, who was represented by the Director-General of National Centre for Women Development, Asabe Bashir, made the appeal while discussing at the second edition of the APC Professionals Forum Symposium in Abuja.
The development was coming barely 24 hours after a bill seeking to amend the existing Act to make the compulsory one-year national youth service for under-30 graduates optional suffered a setback at the House of Representatives.
The bill, which also sought to create more allowances for NYSC members to obtain a Certificate of Exemption, failed to pass second reading as it faced stiff opposition, especially from members of the House from the North.
But on Tuesday, Tinubu’s wife disclosed that she strongly believed the NYSC can be reformed and restructured in such a way that it would alleviate the bottlenecks associated with graduates struggling for employment after service.
She said, “We believe that the National Youth Service Corps is long overdue for a holistic, modern, and progressive reform.
As the last conveyor belt of graduates from academic pursuits to real-life employment challenges, the Asiwaju administration believes that the NYSC can be restructured in such a way as to benefit the private sector and youth directly.
“This will be achieved by proactively encouraging and incentivising corporate recruitment and possible retainership of employees directly from the scheme.
‘We will champion the creation of Business Incubation Centres (Innovation and Productivity Hubs). These centres will help incubate, mentor and support youth innovators and inventors.
“We will increase the ease and robustness of intellectual property registration and protection such as copyrights, patents, and trademark.”
Source: The Punch
