Foundation denies extorting NYSC members

THE National Youth Service Corps Foundation has denied compelling outgoing corps members to pay N500 each.

The money was reportedly deducted from the corps members’ accounts.

The Foundation’s Chairman, Mr. Remi Olowude, who spoke to journalists in Abuja, said corps members freely paid the money after subscribing to the 15-year-old foundation.

Olowude, represented at the briefing by a former NYSC Director-General, Maj.-Gen. Hafiz Momoh (retd.), said the payment of money to the foundation was voluntary.

He said, “Subscription is voluntary and it is paid to the foundation. For emphasis, let me reiterate that there is no compulsion in subscription and there is no illegal deduction.”

“The fund is channelled into providing essential infrastructure as well as rehabilitating moribund NYSC scheme projects across the country. Within the limit of its financial capacity, the Foundation has continued to assist in upgrading or making available facilities such as toilets, beds, furniture and generators to make life in NYSC orientation camps more bearable.”

He added that no fewer than 115 ex-corps members had received soft loans from the Foundation to establish their own businesses.