The House of Representatives has called on the authorities of the
National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to cancel forthwith the posting of
corps members to states that have security challenges.
It further requested the NYSC to re-post the corps members to
relatively safe places until the security challenges were resolved.
The house, which made the call in Abuja on Tuesday at its plenary,
also urged the NYSC to post only corps members, who chose to serve in
crisis prone areas.
This resolution was sequel to a motion moved by Rep. Peter Edeh
(ANPP–Ebonyi), which was adopted by the House when put to vote by the
Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha.
Leading debate on the merits of the motion, Edeh said that the recent
posting of ‘’ Batch B’’ NYSC members to certain areas of the country
had caused a lot of concern to the public.
He said the posting had elicited out cry from the affected corps
members, as well as Nigerians due to the security challenges in those
states.
Edeh said that some corps members lost their lives as a result of
insecurity in their places of primary assignment in the past, and that
those recently posted to such areas should be re-posted.
He argued that the safety of the NYSC members should be paramount to the government.
According to him, it will be callous to allow innocent children to be
posted to places where they don’t know what to do in times of trouble.
“Let us do what is practical, the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria (as amended) says security and welfare should be the
primary concern of government. They (corps members) should not be
posted to where they are not safe,’’ he said.
Rep. Bitrus Kaze (PDP–Plateau) in his contribution in support of the
motion said the motion was in good faith as the issue concerned human
lives.
Rep. Fort Dike (PDP–Anambra) on his part agreed with the mover of the
motion that it would be unfair to post corps members to where their
safety might not be guaranteed.
Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila (ACN–Lagos) said the motion was timely as it
concerns the welfare of people, and urged his colleagues to support the
motion.
However, since the motion was not opposed, it was subsequently adopted by the House.
-NAN
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