The Nigeria Senate has passed the bill seeking to establish a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Trust Fund.

The NYSC Trust Fund (Establishment) Bill was passed on Tuesday after its third reading during plenary.

The Bill titled: National Youth Service Corps Trust Fund (Establishment) Bill, 2022 was equally passed by the House of Representatives in April 2022.

The legislation is titled, ‘A Bill for an Act to Establish National Youth Service Corps Trust Fund for the purpose of providing a Sustainable Source of Funds for the National Youth Service Corps, Skill Acquisition, Training and Empowerment of Corps Members, Training and Retraining of the Personnel of the National Youth Service Corps, Development of Camps and NYSC formations and Facilities therein; and for Related Matters.’

The trust fund is aimed at helping to address infrastructure deficits in the scheme and provide start-up capital for interested corps members to drive their business initiatives.

It will also help train and retrain NYSC personnel and develop camps and NYSC formations and provide facilities therein.
According to the sponsor of the bill.

The proposed fund is to provide sustainable source of funds for NYSC, skill Acquisition training and provision of start-up capital to corps members.

“It will also Improve the general welfare of corps members and personnel of the scheme and enhance their preparedness to effectively discharge their statutory duties of promoting national unity, integration, self-reliance and accelerated development of the national economy.”

The trust Fund would be financed with a “levy of 1% of the net profit of companies and organised private sector operating business in Nigeria, a 0.2% of total revenue accruing to the federation account and any takeoff grant and special intervention fund as may be provided by the federal, state and local governments of the Federation.

Other sources of the funds include “such money as may be appropriated to meet the objective of this Act by the National Assembly in the budget; aids, grants and assistance from international bilateral and multilateral agencies, non-governmental organisations and the organised private sector; grants, donations, endowments, bequests and gifts, whether of money, land or any other property from any source; and money derived from investment made by the Trust Fund.”