No fewer than 16 members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Sokoto State have had their service year extended due to various acts of misconduct.
The State Coordinator of the scheme, Alhaji Usman Yaro, made this known on Friday during the passing-out ceremony of the 2024 Batch C, Stream 2 corps members held in Sokoto.
Yaro explained that the affected corps members were penalised for offences such as abscondment, persistent absenteeism, and other breaches of NYSC rules. He stressed that the scheme maintains a strict zero-tolerance stance on indiscipline and truancy.
“Discipline remains a core value of the NYSC, and sanctions are necessary to protect the integrity of the scheme and ensure compliance with laid-down regulations,” he said, adding that the service year of the affected corps members was extended as punishment for their actions.
On a positive note, the coordinator announced that two corps members received the Sultan Sa’ad Abubakar Award for their outstanding contributions to improving the lives of people in their host communities.
He also praised Sokoto State Governor, Ahmed Aliyu, for his continuous support of the NYSC, particularly the regular payment of state allowances to corps members. Yaro further commended the Sultan of Sokoto for his unwavering backing of the scheme and his commitment to youth development.
According to him, many corps members were deliberately posted to rural communities to promote grassroots development in line with the objectives of the NYSC and the current administration’s development agenda. He noted that medical corps members were largely deployed to rural areas to help address manpower shortages in the health sector, with their outreach programmes benefiting thousands of residents across the state.
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Yaro added that several corps members were posted to schools to strengthen the education sector, while institutions such as the Bank of Industry and other partners supported corps members with entrepreneurship training and business development assistance.
He advised the outgoing corps members to remain good ambassadors of the NYSC and to make effective use of the skills acquired through the Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development programme after completing their service year.
