Nigeria’s House of Representatives is considering discontinuation of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme.
The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Alteration Bill, 2020, which is seeking to repeal the NYSC Act, is billed for the second reading.
In the explanatory memorandum of the proposal, the sponsor, Mr. Awaji-Inombek Abiante, listed the various reasons why the NYSC should be scrapped.
It read in part, “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.”
Under Decree No. 24 of 1973, the federal military government of General Yakubu Gowon had established the NYSC on May 22, 1973, as a way of reconciling and reintegrating Nigerians after the civil war which was fought between July 6, 1967 and January 15, 1970.