NYSC to be cancelled due to prevailing security situation in Nigeria
The National Youth Service Corp NYSC might be cancelled anytime soon following calls for the discontinuation of the program due to the prevailing security situation in the country.
This is contained in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Alteration Bill, 2020, which is seeking to repeal the NYSC Act, and has been billed for the second reading in the House of Representatives.
The sponsor, Mr Awaji-Inombek Abiante, in the explanatory memorandum of the proposal, rolled out the various reasons the NYSC should be scrapped.
The statement read partly;
“This bill seeks to repeal Section 315(5)(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, (as amended) on the following grounds:
“Incessant killing of innocent corps members in some parts of the country due to banditry, religious extremism and ethnic violence; incessant kidnapping of innocent corps members across the country;
“Public and private agencies/departments are no longer recruiting able and qualified Nigerian youths, thus relying heavily on the availability of corps members who are not being well remunerated and get discarded with impunity at the end of their service year without any hope of being gainfully employed;
“Due to insecurity across the country, the National Youth Service Corps management now gives considerations to posting corps members to their geopolitical zone, thus defeating one of the objectives of setting up the service corps, i.e. developing common ties among the Nigerian youths and promote national unity and integration.”
NYSC was introduced in 1972 following the Nigerian civil war to promote unity. The one-year program places graduates of tertiary institutions in areas away from their locality in other to promote national integration.
