Lawmaker Proposes Bill To Scrap Mandatory National Youth Service

A member of the House of Representatives from Rivers State,
Awaji-Inombek Abiante, is proposing a bill to repeal the National
Youth Service Corps Act.

He noted that the NYSC was established to encourage and develop
common ties among the Nigerian youths, promote national unity, as
well as develop the youths and the country into a great and dynamic
economy.

The lawmaker, who represents Andoni-Opobo/Nkoro Federal
Constituency, however, lamented that the programme has failed to
address the essence of its establishment after several decades.

He decried that several reform efforts have also not yielded
desired results but have continued to be a drain on the nation’s
scarce resources and exposed families to several nightmares, and
even loss of loved ones after so much investment.

Abiante stressed the need to call for the repeal of the law
establishing the programme on nine grounds.

He noted the incessant loss of lives of innocent corps members
in some parts of the country to banditry, religious extremism, and
ethnic violence, as well as the kidnapping of corps members at
their places of primary assignment and in transit.

According to the lawmaker, public and private agencies 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.

Other grounds listed by the lawmaker are highlighted
below:

Due to insecurity across the country, the National Youth Service
Corps Management now give considerations to posting corps members
to their geo-political 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;

Many corps members are being used by their employers for jobs
that have no bearing on the skills acquired at institutions of
higher learning, thus making them unemployable after their service
year;

The available camp facilities/officials are grossly inadequate
to contain the number of Nigerian graduates participating in the
scheme, thus creating unpleasant situations to the corps members
during the orientation programme;

Call-up is no longer automatic;

Some of the female corps members have been savagely raped and
gruesomely murdered without any protected from their employers
which are avoidable if not for the scheme.

Graduates are made to queue for several years; some wait until
they become ineligible for some employment, especially into the
military and paramilitary services with stringent age limit
prescriptions.

A member of the House of Representatives from Rivers State,
Awaji-Inombek Abiante, is proposing a bill to repeal the National
Youth Service Corps Act.

He noted that the NYSC was established to encourage and develop
common ties among the Nigerian youths, promote national unity, as
well as develop the youths and the country into a great and dynamic
economy.

The lawmaker, who represents Andoni-Opobo/Nkoro Federal
Constituency, however, lamented that the programme has failed to
address the essence of its establishment after several decades.

He decried that several reform efforts have also not yielded
desired results but have continued to be a drain on the nation’s
scarce resources and exposed families to several nightmares, and
even loss of loved ones after so much investment.

Abiante stressed the need to call for the repeal of the law
establishing the programme on nine grounds.

He noted the incessant loss of lives of innocent corps members
in some parts of the country to banditry, religious extremism, and
ethnic violence, as well as the kidnapping of corps members at
their places of primary assignment and in transit.

According to the lawmaker, public and private agencies 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.

Other grounds listed by the lawmaker are highlighted
below:

Due to insecurity across the country, the National Youth Service
Corps Management now give considerations to posting corps members
to their geo-political 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;

Many corps members are being used by their employers for jobs
that have no bearing on the skills acquired at institutions of
higher learning, thus making them unemployable after their service
year;

The available camp facilities/officials are grossly inadequate
to contain the number of Nigerian graduates participating in the
scheme, thus creating unpleasant situations to the corps members
during the orientation programme;

Call-up is no longer automatic;

Some of the female corps members have been savagely raped and
gruesomely murdered without any protected from their employers
which are avoidable if not for the scheme.

Graduates are made to queue for several years; some wait until
they become ineligible for some employment, especially into the
military and paramilitary services with stringent age limit
prescriptions.