Former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega has submitted that the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) is one of the best schemes introduced by the military and should be encouraged and sustained.
Jega said this on Monday in Abuja while delivering the 50th-anniversary lecture of the NYSC with the theme: ‘NYSC: Five Decades of Fostering National Unity and Development.’
According to him, there is no doubt that the NYSC has substantially achieved the objectives for which it was established.
He said ‘certainly, there have been a lot of accomplishments in the area of national integration and nation-building.
“The young men and women have contributed to the Nigerian economy as professionals who have just graduated from universities or tertiary institutions and who are providing cheap labour and national service.
Read Also: Calls For Scrapping Of NYSC Baseless – NYSC Director
‘Similarly, in community development, in education and in health, especially in the rural areas and through their participation in national elections.’
Jega said that he was instrumental to the fostering of relationship between INEC and NYSC to ensure greater involvement and participation of youth corps members in electoral process.
“I can testify that the contributions that these young men and women made in spite of the risk that many of them faced in discharging their duties added to lifting the integrity of our elections,” he said
He, however, said that to sustain the scheme and reposition it for optimal performance, its challenges must be addressed.
He listed the challenges to include dwindling resources amid more enrollment of participants and the need to target the energy of the youths toward national development.
Jega, therefore, urged government at all levels to ensure there is adequate security for youth corps members, insure the lives of members and increase funding for the scheme.
In an address to declare the ceremony open, the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, said since its establishment 50 years ago, the story of NYSC had been that of growth, progress, and expansion.
Osinbajo, who was represented by the Minister for Power, Mr Abubakar Aliyu, said the scheme recorded numerous achievements, especially in the promotion of national unity and integration.
Osinbajo said that the scheme was conceived as a pivot of national unity and integration to accelerate the process of national healing after the unfortunate 30-month civil war which led to a divided nation yearning for unity.
He added that “there is no doubt that since its inception 50 years ago to reconstruct, reconcile and rebuild the country after the civil war, the NYSC has continued to play a significant role in actualising the role of building an indivisible nation.
‘I want to congratulate management, staff, board members and youth corps members nationwide and all Nigerians on the 50th-anniversary celebration which I can describe as the celebration of another NYSC’s unquantifiable contributions to nation-building.
‘I wish to commend the heroism of the Retired Gen. Yakubu Gowon-led government that came up with the idea of establishing the NYSC in 1973.
‘The NYSC was specially designed to harness the potential of young dedicated Nigerian graduates toward the path of national development.’
He called on the Federal Government tp show commitment to youth development through policies and programmes that would empower them not only for economic survival, but also for future leadership roles.