DEPUTY Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, said on Friday that the Senate would review the act, which established the National Youth Service Corps [NYSC], so as to make it efficient and keep youths from harm’s way in any part of the country.

Lamenting killings in various parts of the north, following the outcome of the presidential election, Ekweremadu said the NYSC scheme, established for national cohesion, has failed woefully, stressing that a reform is needed to enable it play other significant roles in nation building.

As an interim measure, he suggested a reform that could make it compulsory for youths to serve in their geo-political zones until such a time when the country has achieved national cohesion and peace, stressing that this would reduce the level of carnage recorded by members participating in the scheme.

Speaking to reporters in Enugu, he insisted that the level of risk innocent youths are being exposed to under the Scheme is unacceptable, assuring that  he would personally champion the move to review the scheme to play other roles when the upper legislative chamber resumes from recess.

He said, “It is saddening and we regret what has happened; something we never expected at this level of our development. It shows that effort to ensure national cohesion, peace and togetherness is yet to be achieved, and the essence of NYSC, in the first place, was to have this kind of level of integration of our people from one part of the country to another.

“So, based on what has happened in recent past and now, where young boys and girls involved in the scheme end up as victims of one conflict or another, I will suggest that we have a review of the NYSC programme.”

-Guardian

Posted by admin on Apr 24 2011. Filed under Legislature, NYSC (National Youth Service Corp), Senate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry