The Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps NYSC, Brig.Gen Shuaibu Ibrahim, has hinted that corps members are part of the national defence policy of Nigeria and can be mobilised for war if need be.

Ibrahim said this on Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’ programme on Wednesday while reacting to moves to scrap the scheme which has been compulsory for all Nigerians who graduate from tertiary institution before the age of 30.

The NYSC boss said, “Corps members are on reserve. They are part of the national defence policy of this country. So, where there is serious war, our corps members are educated, they are knowledgeable and they can be trained. You see the drill and so on.

“You can imagine within the short three weeks in the orientation camps, the corps members are moulded. They are like soldiers. You see female corps members blowing the army horn, playing with the military band.

“So, if not for the knowledge, where are you going to mobilise such young Nigerians to train them quickly to put in their best for the country? So, corps members are on reserve. They are also part of the national defence policy.”

Ibrahim argued that the NYSC had become more important than ever in the face of the rising calls for secession.

The DG also said corps members had played a huge role in educating children in Internally Displaced Persons’ camps.

He maintained that the insecurity in the country was not enough reason to scrap the scheme, adding that till date, 75 per cent of corps members are still serving in rural areas across the country.

Adding that he had proposed a National Youth Trust Fund through which loans would be given to corps members to start businesses after completing the mandatory programme.

Ibrahim said the scheme had been able to foster national unity and cohesion, adding that many corps members had found love in the various orientation camps and married.

“There are a lot of inter-marriages. For most of our females, the history of their marriages can be traced to their service year because they meet their fiancées during their service year. I have had cause to attend such weddings and the NYSC supports such weddings,” he said.

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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.

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