Members of the House of Representatives are currently deliberating on a bill that seeks to scrap the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme. The bill titled ''Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Alteration Bill, 2020'', and sponsored by a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker from Rivers state, Awaji-Inombek Abiante, has reached the second reading stage in the house.
Explaining the rationale behind the bill, Abiante said the NYSC has failed to address the essence of its establishment, thereby fueling segregating between the rich and the poor, where corps members from poor backgrounds are posted to terror-prone zones and end up getting killed, while those from privileged backgrounds are posted to the place of their choice.
He also listed the incessant killing and kidnap of innocent corps members in some parts of the country due to banditry, religious extremism, and ethnic violence as part of the reasons why the scheme should be scrapped.
Abiante added that most public and private agencies and departments no longer engage the services of able and qualified Nigerian youths, thus relying heavily on the availability of corps members who are under-paid and disengaged at the end of their service year without any hope of being gainfully employed.
