Corps members should undergo military training for 12 months— Ishaku
By Modupe Shodeinde
Governor of Taraba state, Darius Ishaku, says the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme should include 12 months of military training as part of efforts to fight insecurity in the country.
The governor who stated this during a programme on Channels Television on Wednesday, said the corps members at the end of the military training, would be able to carry guns to defend themselves.
“If you leave me, the NYSC, I will say it should be two years — one year for compulsory military training and the other year for the social works that they are doing now,” he said.
“[This is] so that anybody who graduates as an NYSC person can know how to handle a gun, can know how to defend himself, just like it is done in other countries like in Israel, Lebanon and other places.
“You must engage your citizens to be proactive when you cannot provide the security. You must allow them to protect themselves. Constitution or no constitution, you must first be alive.”
Ishaku also called for the government to train those residing in border communities on how to use guns so that they can protect themselves against banditry and kidnapping.
According to him, this is necessary as such communities should not be left to the whims and caprices of gunmen, if the government can’t protect them.
“You can’t leave human beings like that — at the whims and caprices of somebody who moves with an AK-47. This is wrong. They should train 10 or 20 people in each village along the axis of the boundaries.”
