NYSC asked to stop posting corps members to Borno, Yobe, other ‘war zones’

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has been urged to stop posting corps members to areas affected by terrorist activities and ongoing conflicts, particularly in parts of the North-East and North-West zones.

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) made the call following the rescue of 74 corps members by troops of the Joint Task Force (JTF), North East Operation Hadin Kai, who prevented their abduction by Boko Haram terrorists along the Buratai–Kamuya road in Borno State.

HURIWA criticised the previous administration for failing to discipline the former NYSC Director-General who, it said, approved the deployment of corps members to high-risk areas such as Zamfara and other terrorist-controlled territories.

The group recalled that about a dozen corps members travelling from Akwa Ibom State were kidnapped by terrorists and held captive for over a year until their families paid huge ransoms for their release.

“If the then president had dismissed the then DG for dereliction of duty or directed for his immediate demotion from the rank of a Brigadier General, perhaps his successor now in office would have sit up and be properly guided not to risk the lives of corpers by posting them to the hottest theatres of terror war in Borno state.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should direct the minister of youth affairs and the DG of the NYSC never to make this sort of deadly blunder and to forthwith, stop sending prospective corpers to all the states in which terrorists have troubling presence such as in the North East states of Yobe and Borno states and almost all of the North West states,” the statement read.

HURIWA said it was considering legal action to compel the NYSC to end postings to regions affected by insurgency, noting that it was already in talks with allied groups to pursue the matter in court.

“HURIWA is talking with like-minded groups to possibly mobilise support and logistics to sue before the Federal High Court, the legal person of the National Youth Service Corps scheme and the management from sending prospective corpers to theatres of war on terror clearly identified by the military.

“We may go by way of fundamental rights enforcement procedure. The incessant exposure of Youths by the NYSC to imminent deaths is becoming too frequent and too loud not to be legally confronted. The Right to life is sacrosanct and must be protected by all lawful means,” it said.

In a statement signed by its national coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, HURIWA faulted what it described as the “recklessness” of the NYSC management for continually sending corps members to volatile areas.

“The purpose for which the NYSC was set up is not to be administered like a labour camp whereby youngsters are thrown to all over the places even places and territories that terrorists and bloody mass killers are holding sway.

“May be when parents of corpers who are kidnapped successfully sue the DG of NYSC in his personal capacity and the court awards heavy penalty including massive payouts, may be only then would the welfare and well-being of our young children be adequately protected and promoted by the NYSC by making it an enforceable policy never to deploy corpers to areas whereby terrorists operate.

“The security and welfare of the citizens and making sure that these objectives are met, is the most basic, primary and fundamental principles and duty of government in a constitutional democracy,” he said.