He spoke yesterday after he was briefed by of­ficials of the Federal Ministry of Youth Develop­ment led by the Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Rabi Jimeta.
He affirmed that the objective for which the scheme was established in 1973 was still very rel­evant for national development now.
“I firmly believe in NYSC and I think it should remain a national programme to promote integra­tion. Whenever I go home to Daura, I look out for corps members from Lagos, Aba and other parts of the country.
“I am always thrilled to learn that except for the NYSC, some of them have never left their states of origin to visit other cities in the country,” he said.
Jimeta told the President that the increasing number of NYSC participants posed a challenge to the scheme due to the dwindling revenue, from the national budget, to cater for their needs.
She told the President that the annual enrolment of corps participants had increased from 2,364 at inception in 1974 to 229,016 in 2014 last year.
NYSC Director-General, Brigadier-General Johnson Olawumi, told the President that there were plans to make the scheme voluntary and re­duce the population to make the programme more sustainable.