In response to escalating security challenges, the Federal Government has announced that members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) are no longer deployed to states deemed unsafe.
The revelation was made by Minister of Youth, Jamila Bio-Ibrahim, during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
Recall that there have been several calls for the scrapping of the scheme following the abduction of several corps members in some parts of the country during their one-year mandatory national service.
But the minister said the scheme has taken steps to secure NYSC members by not posting them to states battling with insecurity and only posting them to safe states.
She said: “As an immediate intervention of the government and the NYSC as an agency, we have actually stopped posting corps members to the very unsafe states.
“We have been doing it. We have been doing it in the past. There are states we have not been posting corps members to to ensure their safety.”
Speaking further, the minister said the security of corps members requires new strategies and collaboration with other agencies of government.
She added: “When it comes to security matters, it is a multi-sectoral approach. So, it is not the NYSC alone and the ministry that is involved. We are working with security outlets to ensure corps members are safe.
“We are also working on group transportation strategies for them to ensure that they are transported to and from camps safely and to their destinations.”
Ada Peter
