BREAKING NEWS:
FG appoints new DG for NYSC, Chairman of
Transmission Company of Nigeria
The Federal Government on Tuesday announced the appointment of Brig.-Gen. Johnson Olawumi as the new Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja and signed by Sen. Anyim Pius Anyim, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
The statement said Olawumi’s appointment took effect from Dec. 23.
Olawumi, who hails from Iyin Ekiti, in Ekiti State,
attended the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, and was commissioned into the Nigerian Army on Sept. 23, 1989.
He has a Bachelor of Science’s degree in
Mathematics from the Nigerian Defence Academy, a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Florin.
Olawumi, who also has a Master’s degree in
Defence Studies from the Kings College, London, is happily married and has children.
.
Source: www.nigerianbulletin.com/threads/fg-appoints-new-dg-for-nysc.31723/

in case of 1st to comment, I spoil am....








they can be so annoying??

Brig. N.T Okorie well Job Done.. You have served well..

Congratulations to the outgoing DG and praying that the new DG's tenure will be filled with outstanding success.

I hope the new DG will not forego the camp cow tradition



Congratulations to both

so ebele don comot dt oyibo, i hopew dis one will create way for cancellation of nysc...

Waw! The first Regular Combatant to be appointed as the NYSC Director General. Things will definately change for the better. The New DG should pursue the improvement of the Condition of Service for NYSC Staffs with vigour coz those guys are not finding it easy at all.

I just hope he initiate the posting of corpers to their rightful place of discipline.

V/Kasparov:
Waw! The first Regular Combatant to be appointed as the NYSC Director General. Things will definately change for the better. The New DG should pursue the improvement of the Condition of Service for NYSC Staffs with vigour coz those guys are not finding it easy at all.

abi, corpers will start using AKs and Pump actions..... *winks

Imanuelle: I hope the new DG will not forego the camp cow tradition



Congratulations to both

maybe the guy is against GEJs second term ambition .. . hehehehehe

i love okorie afia but there must be change of Post

VKasparov:
Waw! The first Regular Combatant to be appointed as the NYSC Director General. Things will definately change for the better. The New DG should pursue the improvement of the Condition of Service for NYSC Staffs with vigour coz those guys are not finding it easy at all.

It is now well over a year since the DG assumed the mantle of leadership of the NYSC and sources reveal that there had not been any improvement in the welfare of staff of the scheme and that the DG is just fending for himself and his Directors. If anything the condition of staff had gone from bad to worse. It seems there is no regular combatant when it comes to corruption, just the regular thieving. I weep for my country.

Sadly, after Brig. Gen. Johnson Olawumi's 3 year tenure, this is the legacy he left for the NYSC:

http://south-south.com/nysc-how-a-major-general-presides-over-a-corrupt-ridden-scheme/

NYSC :How A Major-General Presides Over A Corrupt-ridden Scheme

By Ovie Edomi[i][/i]

Corruption and non-promotion of senior officers to the next level continue to fester in the National Youth Service Corps as its boss, a Brigadier-General is bogged down by a cabal that has held the service with impunity for years.

“Into what danger would you lead me, Cassius, that you would have me seek into myself. For that which is not in me?” is a popular verse from William Shakespeare’s book, Julius Caesar.

Brigadier-General Johnson Bamidele Olawumi, the Director-General of National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, cut the picture of a no-nonsense officer as he drove pass the reporter with his escort. Few minutes after he drove into the headquarters, this reporter drove towards the gate in company of the executive editor in charge of Abuja but was politely told that they could not drive in. As the reporter walks to the reception and took the lift to the DG’s floor, there was the larger image of Johnson that looms in the air.

Unperturbed, the reporter dropped the questionnaire he brought with a letter and went around to feel the pulse of those who should know. Some cautiously decided not to talk while those who have the heart of a lion spoke with the magazine. Two weeks later, NYSC spokesperson, Bose Aderibigbe, called to say that the NYSC DG’s response was ready.

To say that Brigadier-General Bamidele Olawumi is a distinguished military officer in the Nigerian Army is stating the obvious. Under normal circumstances, the office he currently occupies should invest him with some level of authority and respect within the service and in the military. But that may not be exactly true in the case of the Brigadier-General who is currently serving as the Director-General of the NYSC.

Whereas the NYSC was set up in 1973 by General Yakubu Gowon to mobilise and grow graduate youths with a view to promoting national unity, self reliance as well as prepare them for the challenges of leadership amongst other objectives, the NYSC over the years has not achieved its developmental and reintegration purpose. And the reasons for this are not far-fetched.

The scheme, according to insiders who spoke to the magazine, is far losing touch with the goal of promoting national unity. They insist that rather than the NYSC helping to integrate the people, the scheme has been hijacked by a cabal who now use it to generate revenue as well as a place to create jobs for their husbands, wives, children and cronies.

Investigations show that though the NYSC may have had some credibility crisis, Brigadier-General Olawumi

tried to correct the problem but was frustrated by the cabal in NYSC. Even when he tried harder as a Brigadier-General, he could not throw a dart at the cabal for what insiders described as selfish reasons.

The magazine’s investigations show that one of the directors at the headquarters introduced the scheme of online registration of youth corps members. The idea of online registration was later sold to management where it was subsequently pushed through the procurement processes. The assurance at the beginning was that Sidmach Technology will reform NYSC’s ITC. When the magazine asked the DG what reform Sidmach Technology has introduced since 2014 when it began the online platform till date, Brigadier-General Olawumi noted that the technology has been massively deployed in such a way that ITC professional who understands the language now heads the department. Even then, in his response the DG noted that though NYSC has qualified ITC personnel they do not have the requisite skills to drive the current process. He noted that as NYSC personal understudy Sidmach Technology a time will come when the scheme will take full charge of the entire ITC process.

Meanwhile, those with inside knowledge told the magazine that in just a twinkle of an eye, some directors in NYSC along with Sidmach Technology managers are becoming millionaires on a weekly basis. In fact one of the staff showed the magazine how the scheme registered 300,000 corps members in two batches in 2015 thus generating N900million for the scheme from online registration alone. This year the same source told the magazine that the scheme will generate over one billion naira from online registration and other charges, yet when the magazine ask the DG what the nation has gained from the partnership with Sidmach Technology and how much has been generated so far and what happened to the money, he noted that the technology has increased the efficiency and effectiveness of the scheme. As for what has happened to the generated revenue he noted that the sum charged corps members goes into infrastructure deployment and maintainance in addition to personnel training.

The implication is that NYSC is mobilising young graduates whose parents pay through their noses to get them university/tetiratary education to be the ones to fund the maintainance of infrastructure, personnel training and so on. The big question which no one was ready to answer is: what happens to the annual budgetary allocation to NYSC. The other question on how the scheme, a non revenue- generating agency has suddenly become a revenue-generating agency against the Act establishing it, mum was the word. But those with inside knowledge confided in the magazine that the directors and their state co- ordinators do not frawn at the level of corruption associated with the collected funds through the online registration of corps members because their bread is equally well buttered. For instance, a state co- ordinator saw some millions of naira paid into his personal account when he asked what the money was meant for, those who credited the account said it was his own share from online collection from corps members.

Another state co-ordinator in one of the South-west states who had his account credited quickly called the headquarters to say he does not want such free money. It is still unclear how the headquarters’ cabal handled his case. Those who alleged corruption in the scheme especially with the online registration, gave the impression of fears of a show down with the scheme someday.

Meanwhile, Mabel Okafor, in her late 30s, resumed at her desk one Tuesday morning and she began her prayers crying aloud: “if Abba Moro can be visited, God visit NYSC and expose those corrupt “Ogas” at the top the same way the DASUKI -Gate has exposed many senior citizens who stole our common wealth.”

Curiously this reporter, was in the office for a document, and wondered if a junior level officer could offer such prayers, what then could some level 14 and level 15 officers be thinking. Investigation revealed that some of them have remained in one level for eight to 10 years with no promotion, whereas in some cases their juniors were promoted to meet them in the same level and those of them with godfathers, were equally promoted above their seniors.

One of such promotions was the case of one Mrs Mba, who joined the scheme with a degree in mathematics in 1987 and was subsequently promoted over her immediate boss and acting head of ICT, one Mr Igbemila and made a director in charge of ICT

When the magazine asked the DG the justification for this, in a response, on behalf of the DG, the director in charge of media, Mrs Aderibigbe said “Mr Uba was promoted in line with professionalism, to head ICT department. Her colleagues however told the magazine that the head of media was being economical with the truth. One of them told the magazine that there was a time the scheme has it on authority that lawyers in the service are not allowed to be state- co-ordinators but that since the cabal dictating the way the scheme is run holds sway, a lawyer who has strong ties with one the directors has been made state co- ordinator and when the attention of the DG was drawn to it, those with inside knowledge said Brigadier-General Olawumi was helpless, fuelling speculations that he might have been caged by the cabal in NYSC.

But an officer who works in the DG’s office noted without knowing the identity of the reporter that the DG’s frustration is understandable. According to the source, one of the directors pushing the DG to take some of the decisions is good at writing petitions against his boss after he has succeeded in getting any of the NYSC boss to fall into line. It is believed that the director in question may have allegedly got the DG to bend the rules and do certain things that are not in the statutory laws that established the scheme and in order not to be embarrassed, the four-star General is believed to be toeing his line. In most cases tantamount to working against popular demand but as a soldier,rather than being disgraced in the battle, he appears to have decided to soldier on.

Those sympathetic to the DG of the scheme however feel that soldieing on will not help the scheme, especially with the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration that has come with its Change mantra. What if the National Assembly or the anti-corruption agencies ask the DG to justify the N3000 paid by corps members for online registration?

When the magazine asked Femi Adesina SA on media and publicity to the President what the feeling of the Buhari-led administration is over the collection of N3,000 online registration fee by corps members and whether the collection by a non revenue-generating agency is a welcome development, mum was the word. However when a member of the President Buhari economic team was told that NYSC made N1billion from helpless graduates last year and that officials of NYSC told the magazine that they used the money to fund personnel training and maintenance of infrastructure, he was shocked. Efforts to reach the Minister of Sports and Youth development proved unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, some officers who have not been promoted from their last positions in the last eight years accused some top management staff of scheming to place their wives, children and cronies in some of the vacant positions because of the gains that accurre to such offices. Insiders gave examples of the director in charge of Corps Mobilisation and several others whose wives and children have been positioned to take over certain positions in the scheme. Speculation is rife that when the director in charge of media retires next year, a current director’s wife who is currently in the public relations department will replace her. Already, she is in the department to serve as eye to the cartel so that negative stories can be quickly suppressed.

More worrisome however is the allegation that the same officer who is due to retire next year has a brother and his cronies already positioned to head strategic positions while he retires to take up an executive director position in Sidmach Technology.

As expected the NYSC head of media denied the allegation confirming however that the director’s wife and brother work in NYSC. Insiders say that the Imo State cordinator also has one of his sons working in Ondo State secretariat. Others who occupy key positions and still have their children or cronies in the scheme along with their children are Mrs Makinde whose daughter is in Ondo State secretariat. Mr Omotunde, a deputy director and Personal Assistant to the Director General whose wife’s brother is equally working in Ondo State secretariat amongst several others. This confirms the speculations making the rounds that it is a common phenomenon in NYSC to find husband, wives and children occupying sensitive positions as against the civil service rule.

The situation in NYSC has given vent to further speculations that persons loyal to some directors are the people handling the contracts of corps members’ uniforms, kittings and so on.

Contrary to the public posture of the director-general of the scheme, which instil a lot of fear in the minds of hundred of workers, many say they would transfer their service if they have their way.

Meanwhile, like Okafor, some who have harrowing experience to share decided to keep sealed lips others prefer to talk about their health ,transportation and welfare challenges. They described their lifestyles as hellish while directors and state Coordinators live like kings. As for the DG an insider says he lives in five-star hotels whenever he visits any state. The directors and the state coordinators have equally fashioned out ways of making money out of the scheme.

Even then a deputy director in the Abuja office who is equally a level 14 officer told the magazine that anxiety, worry, depression are not uncommon to junior workers of the scheme. He said officers who depend on only their salaries are not finding it easy but averred that people are not willing to talk for fear of victimisation.

A level-10 officer told the magazine that the scenario has reached a disturbing proportion. This may be why a radio station in Abuja recently took on the scheme.

While the controversy ranges on, insider say NYSC has already registered 140,000 corps members as at the time of this report . Other batches will be registered in the remaining part of the year. With a minimum target of 450,000 corps members, the scheme hopes to rake in over a billion naira from online registration alone. Other areas that the scheme makes money from youth corps members include exclusion certificate which attracts N3,000 fee for part-time students. Also those who serve but could not continue due to one reason or the other are made to refund four months’ salaries to NYSC before they are allowed to serve again. When the magazine asked to know the account such money is paid into especially with the introduction of the Treasury Single Account mum was the word.

Meanwhile to demonstrate that NYSC is rolling in money especially with the introduction of the online registration, when a former chief accountant of NYSC retired all the state accountants contributed to buy their retired colleague a N12million car. This is aside from the mansion alleged to have been built by the Chief Accountant

The magazine’s investigation revealed that state accountants who are level 12 officers have built mansions which some level 17 officers can not dream of owning.

Curiously, the workers union that should fight for the rights and welfare of workers appears to been compromised as the union leader is among those alleged to be getting monthly payment from the online registration.

Besides, his wife was recently transferred from Ibadan to join him in Abuja as a way to percify him. He too is believed to have facilitated the employment of his cronies into the scheme.

In a response to the magazine’s question on the ownership of Sidmach Technology in which one Mr Ani is alleged to have a hand, the DG of NYSC stated that the company was incorporated before Mr Ani became ICT director. He equally stated that no law forbids spouses or siblings from working in NYSC. As for reserving certain directorate positions for families of cabal members controlling NYSC he insisted that promotion from level 7 to 17 is guided by the conditions spelt out for promotion in the public service. However as at when the magazine was gathering information for this report tension was high amongst NYSC workers. This explains why Okafor was apprehensive when she got to her desk on March 1 this year. Its over a month that Okafor offered her prayer but nothing seem to have changed. Time will tell!

NYSC Multi Billion Naira Online Registration Scam Causes Disquiet: Ex D.G. And A Top Director Fingered

June 4, 2016 by Adeleye Olusegun Leave a Comment

There is palpable anxiety at the Yakubu Gowon House, National Headquarters of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and other state formations as the lid on the multi billion Naira money spinning scam dubbed online registration of prospective corps members is finally blown open.

The scam, like the immigration employment fiasco is a fast think by some smart alecs within the NYSC and their collaborators in the private sector.

Several media organisations have been calling on the change government of President Mohammadu Buhari to beam its searchlight on this humongous rip off of hapless Nigerian graduates and their parents, but so far nothing is being done because of the characters that are involved in the heist which some people believe may outflank even the Dasuki-gate both in its audacity and magnitude.

However, impeccable sources within the Youth Ministry and the NYSC confided in the CAIFAL investigators that the fowl is finally coming home to roost.

The recent removal of the former Director-General, Brig. Gen Johnson Olawunmi and consequent appointment of Brig. Gen. Suleman Kazaure, who is determined to clean up the corruption ridden agency led to the constitution recently of a committee to unravel all those connected to the stealing of over 1.5 billion naira money collected from jobless Nigerian graduates and their parents of which no kobo was remitted into the coffers of the Federal Government.



Minister for Youth and Sports Barr. Solomon Dalong uncomfortable with ongoing at the NYSC

Our investigation revealed that following several petitions to the EFCC and the widely circulated online publication by the South-South News Portal, several officials of the scheme were invited by the anti-graft agency to explain their role in the sleaze called NYSC online registration; but because those fingered, especially the then Director-General and the immediate past Director, Corps mobilization were the arrow heads of the disguised looting, our sources revealed they made sure noting came out of the investigation.

But with the coming of General Kazaure who is bent on getting to the root of the matter and blocking the monumental stealing that took place, a new independent committee was set up at the instance of the Minister for Youth and Sports. The committee which was initially headed by a very Senior Deputy Director in the Director-General’s Office but was later headed by a departmental Director because the principal suspected culprits in the whole scam are the former D.G and former Director Corps mobilization who is presently heading a very sensitive department at the headquarters.

During our investigation, our team sought to know why it was possible for the service provider Sidmach to have collected over 1.3 billion naira and not remit a dime into the federation account or Federal Government account since NYSC is wholly funded by the Federal Government.

Our investigation further revealed that the brain behind the scam exploited the free reign of corruption incorporated, which is another name for the immediate past Federal Government. Since it was a bazaar and every one took advantage of it, to feather their nest.

We were also able to unravel that the robbing of the hapless graduates was further made possible by the active connivance of the NYSC National Governing Board which was headed by a member of the PDP Board of Trustees who hails from Bayelsa State and that a sizeable chunk of this money is alleged to have found its way back to the chairman and other Board members hence it was very easy to carry out this criminal act without anybody raising on eye brow.



DG NYSC, Brig. Gen. Suleman Kazaure Constituted Investigative Committee on the Scam.

Our investigation further revealed that the recent committee which has submitted its interim report uncovered brazen breaches of all extant rules governing the conduct of government business. For instance, it was discovered by the committee that the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) between the NYSC and Sidmach was designed just like that of Abba Moro immigration saga to favour Sidmach and allow for the laundering of the proceeds to the major beneficiaries. Namely, The former DG, the main brain of the scam who was a former Director mobilization, the chairman and Board members. Otherwise how can a government agency sign an MoU with a private company and cede 60 or 70% to the company.

More worrisome and baffling to the committee is that even the 30% that was supposed to go to the scheme was never remitted into the account of the NYSC or Federal Government.

The committee also established that the Director Finance of the NYSC and indeed the Finance Department all claimed ignorance of how much has been realized from the scam since its inception in 2014 till date or where the money is kept as there is nowhere it is reflected in the budget of the agency in 2014 and 2015 budget estimates.



Nigerian youth: victim of a greedy carbal

Our sources also revealed that the committee was shocked that Sidmach claimed to have spent the whole money on infrastructure which was never reflected in the capital sub head of the NYSC budget. In other words, NYSC under General Olawunmi was appropriating and spending money without recourse to the National Assembly which is the only body constitutionally empowered to approve appropriation in line with approved constitutional provisions.

An impeccable source confided in our investigators that as alleged in an online publication recently, the top NYSC Director was able to convince the former D.G, Gen. Olawunmi, to buy into the scam playing on the greed of the D.G having tried unsuccessfully to sell the idea to Gen. Olawunmi’s predecessor, Gen. Okore-Affia, who turned it down because it was illegal to ask people to pay for mobilization to serve under whatever guise since the NYSC programme is compulsory and mandatory.

Another poser which our investigators believe any ministerial or Federal Government committee should find out is who drafted the MoU, where was the legal department of the NYSC when a diabolical machination of this magnitude was being hatched; why would government legal officials easily capitulate to endorse on MoU which to all intent and purposes is designed to dupe innocent Nigerian Youths and their parents.

As Nigerians wait to see what the Minister for Youth and Sports will do, it is pertinent to draw a similarity between what happened at the NYSC and Immigration.

Both the immigration and NYSC scams were carefully concocted project directed at swindling and embezzling money from the youths under the guise of PPP (Public Private Partnership). But as pointed out to JAMB recently during the budget defence session in the senate, no Federal Government agency has right to spend a kobo even if it generates it without first getting it appropriated by the National Assembly.

In the case of the immigration, it is a revenue generating agency, so it could even have laid claim to spending part of its internally generated revenue, but NYSC is a 100 percent wholly funded programme, yet it entered into a dubious PPP arrangement that was designed to Siphon money into private pocket not minding that some of these graduates had to borrow money to see them through education.

Our investigation revealed that even after you are mobilized, you still pay money to get redeployment or relocation, yet all the money never entered government coffers.

As alleged by our several sources that the former DG has been using money to cover up this day-light robbing of Nigerian graduates, Nigerians are watching to see what the anti-graft agencies will do with all those alleged to have taken part in this callous and shameful primitive acquisition, which has become the hallmark of some unformed personnel and their bureaucratic kleptomaniacs. They now steal even from the youths whose future they are expected to safeguard.

NIGERIA!!