endorsed the N4,000 for the online registration of members of the
National Youth Service Corps ,NYSC.
Chairman of the committee, Rep Kamil Akinlabi revealed this while
giving update on the investigation into the new policy, during a media
chat with House of Representatives Press Corps.
Akinlabi said that the fund would be used for installation of
equipment at the NYSC offices nationwide adding that the fund would
enable the contractor handling the project to recoup investment
within five years.
The House after the adoption of a motion sponsored by Hassan Saleh,
directed NYSC management to suspend forthwith the policy requiring
prospective Corp members to pay the sum of N4,000 with effect from
2015 to access their call up letters.
Akinlabi said: "from the onset, when the matter was brought to our
attention, the first thing we felt was the way you are feeling but
after constructive engagement, we discovered that it was an innovation
that we can't run from.
"First, it was not the responsibility of the NYSC to mobilize
respective Corp member to get their call-up letter, it is the
responsibility of the parent. If somebody schooled in Lagos but lives
in Kano and to get his call-up letter he has to travel to school.
He explained further that "so you will discover that it's time
consuming, risky and very expensive. So what the NYSC has done is to
partner with a consultant that is already handling similar project for
JAMB and WAEC that has eliminated similar risk to partner with them
through PPP arrangement.
"And that PPP arrangement will be on Built Operate and Transfer. What
are the terms of agreement? The contractor would be responsible 100
percent for the purchase and installation of every gadget that will be
necessary to achieve that in all the 36 headquarters including FCT and
in all local government headquarters as well as all orientation camps
across the country.
"So, when we look at the cost of getting the equipment purchased and
installing in all those strategic points, how will they recoup their
investment since government is not injecting a penny?
They proposed N6,000 so we interacted with them that there is no way
this should be on a very high side.
"But when they came up with the debt payback system they agreed with
the bank. The amount and the interest they agreed, we discovered that
if they couldn't get their money within 5 years, it will not be a good
business for them, so what is the minimum or maximum we can agree to
make them recoup their money on time?
"So in order to ask them to go through the normal process and see if
the federal government will be able to adapt the process and finance
it.
But in the process, the Public Procurement was contacted and they had
a certificate of No Objection. And we discovered that Concessionaire
Commission was not carried along whether there will be a better way of
handling this type of issue.
" But we discovered that the only thing we could do is to get the cost
of N6,000 reduced. So when we got that approved we summoned the NYSC
DG and his team, they came.
"To say Nigerians should pay more than N6,000 is not possible, so they
came with N4,500 and later they agreed for N4,000. So they will now be
operating after installing the equipment for five years and later
transfer the equipment because it is Build Operate and Transfer."
In his lead debate, Saleh frowned at the imposition of N4,000 on
thousands of fresh graduates across the country, called for the
intervention of the House to stop the extortion.
He maintained that "as laudable as the idea of sending call up
letters through the internet may be, the decision requiring fresh
graduates to cough out N4,000 to access the letters appears
insensitive and exploitative."
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