Scrapping NYSC will worsen criminality, HURIWA says
By Modupe Shodeinde
Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has cautioned the Federal Government against the alleged plan to scrap the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
In a statement issued yesterday in Abuja, HURIWA’s National Coordinator Emmanuel Onwubiko said said the scheme has given Nigerian youths the opportunity to imbibe the spirit of self-reliance by encouraging them to develop skills for self-employment; contribute to the accelerated growth of the national economy and to develop common ties among the nation’s youths as well as promote national unity and integration.
A House of Representatives member, Awaji-Inombek Abiante, in a Bill that has passed second reading in the National Assembly, had called for the scrapping of the scheme because of insecurity.
The association said making such move would worsen the level of criminality across the country and expose more youths to vices.
The statement states that “If there is one thing the National Assembly has done exceedingly well since the return of the country to democracy in 1999, it is playing to the gallery. Inconsequential laws have always received greater attention while the lacunas to be filled with progressive legislations and legislative interventions are left largely unattended to.”
“One of such distractions is the proposed law for the scrapping of the NYSC. The proposed Bill before the House of Representatives seeks to repeal Section 315(5)(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, (as amended).
“The NYSC scheme has been such a brilliant idea that it has been copied by many other countries. One wonders what example Nigeria as a country would be showing such countries by scrapping the scheme the nation sold to them.
“After a well-considered research and opinion poll conducted by HURIWA, the preponderance of opinion is that President Muhammadu Buhari should jealously preserve the national legacies that the NYSC scheme represents.”
