The Association of Nigeria Universities Alumni has criticized the call by the representative of Opobo/Nkoro Federal Constituency, Awaji-Inombek Abiante, for the scraping of the National Youth Service Corp scheme.
The bill on the discontinuation of the NYSC has reached the second reading in the House of Representatives.
In the proposed bill, Abiante listed insecurity in the land as the main reason for the call.
However, ANUA in a statement signed by its Chairman and National President, University of Ilorin Alumni Association, Dr Wale Fasakin, described the move as unwarranted, saying that the scheme serves as a ‘bridge of unity’ for the federating ethnic groups in the country.
The statement read, “Nigerians would recollect that the NYSC Scheme was set up in 1973 by the General Yakubu Gowon administration as part of strategies to foster unity in the post civil war era.
“The scheme was established by decree 24. However, the scheme which has, for many seasons promoted inter-regional interaction has come under heavy criticism of late, reason being the deteriorating security situation in the country.
“The latest in the attempt to undermine the viability of the scheme is the bill sponsored by the member of House of Representatives who cited insecurity, exploitation of the youth via their place of primary assignment and the poor state of the orientation camps across the nation, as reasons for his proposal to scrap the scheme.
“These reasons are identifiable with the Nigerian society wherein the scheme operates, yet they are not very good enough for the scrapping of such laudable programme which has served as one of the tools for the socio-economic development of the country.
“The scheme has served as a viable instrument of exposure for a very large percentage of the growing population of the youths in Nigeria through deployments of corps members to states outside their places of origin to contribute their quota to national development.”
According to the statement, the scheme provides the youths opportunity to find their bearings in the society. “If NYSC is scrapped, it will encourage most of the youths to go into crime because of the level of unemployment in the country,” it read.
It advised that instead, insecurity should be addressed by the government in order to remove fears. It also called for increased funding and building of modern orientation camps across the country, adding, “The skill acquisition initiative of NYSC should be accorded the full support of government and private organization alike.
“There must be conscious review of the NYSC scheme to lay more emphasis on skill acquisition and play down on primary assignment so that at the end of the service period, corps members would have acquired certain skills that would make them employers of labour.
“The scheme should be made voluntary for graduates of higher institutions to participate in. This will put an end to requests for relocation from place of primary assignments to another state of choice. Scrapping the scheme is ‘a no-go-area.’ If the bill for the scrapping of NYSC should go through, it will spell doom for the unity of the country.
“The intertribal marriage made possible among the youths, an integral factor which many adult Nigerians benefitted from, will be jeopardized. So many other people benefited from this.”
