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Universities’ Alumni rejects scrapping of NYSC
By Osagie Otabor, Akure
National Association of Universities Alumni (UNUA) has urged the House of Representatives to throw out the bill seeking to scrap the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC).
It said the reasons given for moving for the scrapping of the scheme were identifiable with the Nigerian society wherein the scheme operates.
National President of UNUA, Dr. Wale Fasakin, in a press statement issued in Akure, said the NYSC served as one of the tools for the socio-economic development of the country.
Dr. Fasakin stated that the scheme had served as a viable instrument of exposure for a very large percentage of the growing population of the youths in Nigeria through deployments of corps members to states outside their places of origin to contribute their quota to national development.
Fasakin said many graduates would go into crime if the NYSC was scrapped, due to the level of unemployment in the country.
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He called for adequate funding and the building of modern orientation camps across the country as well as the introduction of a skill acquisition initiative.
According to the statement, “There must be a conscious review of the NYSC scheme to lay more emphasis on skill acquisition and play down on primary assignment so that at the end of the service period, corps members would have acquired certain skills that will make them be self-employed and be employers of labour.
“The scheme should be made voluntary for graduates of higher institutions to participate in. This will put an end to requests for relocation from the place of primary assignments to another state of choice.
“Scrapping the scheme is a no-go area by government or anyone.
“If the bill for the scrapping of NYSC should go through, it will spell doom for the unity of the country which is perpetually fostered through it.”
