Military training for corps members is dangerous – NYSC

The National Board of the National Youth Service
Corps has rejected requests for the inclusion of a
compulsory one year military training for corps
members. The board said giving corps members a year of
military training without absorbing them into any
of the military services would be dangerous for
the country. Chairman of the NYSC board, Alhaji Tijani
Adekanbi, told the acting Niger State Governor,
Alhaji Ahmed Musa Ibeto, at the Government
House in Minna that the members of the board
met recently on the issue and suspended the
matter. Adekanbi said, “The primary reason why the NYSC
cannot give military training to corps members as
is being requested is because after the one year
military training there is nowhere the corps
members will be posted. “If we give them one year military training we
have to absorb them into any of the services. If
they are allowed to be on their own it will be
dangerous for the country.” He said the scheme was currently working out a
guideline that must be followed by all corps
members while embarking on their Community
Development Service to ensure that “over
ambitious projects with huge financial demands
are not embarked upon.” He enjoined those patronising the NYSC CDS
projects to scrutinise the projects properly and
contact the NYSC secretariat before supporting the
idea. On the issue of fake NYSC camps and fake NYSC
certificates, the chairman called for more vigilance
on the part of employers of labour, insisting that
there is no way the NYSC discharged certificates
can be forged. He therefore asked employers of labour to always
crosscheck the validity of the NYSC certificates
tendered by their workers. He also said that influential Nigerians who made
their children evade the mandatory one year
service were subjecting them to risk in the future
as they would not be eligible for employment or
qualified to contest election without the discharge
certificate. Ibeto said the NYSC scheme had assisted the Niger
State in the implementation of its education and
health programmes through the provision of
qualified manpower. “The NYSC scheme has been able to make
Nigerians know every part of this country, it has
made our youths to know the true situation on
the ground in the states where they served,” he
added.