Boko- Haram: NYSC cancels passing-out parade
on SEPTEMBER 30, 2011 · in NEWS

BY Emma Ujah, Abuja Bureau Chief
Authorities of the National Youth Service Corps have cancelled the 2010 Batch III passing-out parade slated for October 4, as part of measures to forestall attacks by terrorists against corps members.

The Director-General of the NYSC, Brig. Gen. Nnamdi Okore-Affia, who confirmed this during a parley with senior journalists in Abuja, Friday, explained that he was determined to take every necessary step to protect the corps members throughout the country.

His words, “you are aware that the Independence celebration is low-keyed. We will follow suit and have the passing out low-keyed as a means of ensuring the security of all our corps members. Some areas may not be conducive for congregating at this time.”

The D-G who unveiled two focal points of his administration said he was setting up a 24-hour Distress Call Centre, DCC, with a view to improving the security of all members and would be employed to maximum effects in rapid response.

The Centre being located at the headquarters in Abuja, he said, would be networked with all NYSC State Offices to ensure speedy information flow and would contain a data base of all serving members, at every point in time.

He identified the safety and well being of corps members, as well as, skills acquisition as the two key areas that would receive most of his attention.

Speaking further on the DCC, Brig. Gen. said “at the point of registration, each corps member would be required to provide a functional phone number which officials of the scheme at the state level would send to the headquarters along with the place of primary assignment to create the data base”.

With that arrangement, the D-G said any corps member faced with danger could make a distress call or send a text message and that working in collaboration with the police and other security agencies, the response time would be shortened.

The NYSC boss rejected calls to post corps members to sates close to their homes, saying that such a step could further polarize the nation and defeat the objectives of the scheme which was established in 1973 to strengthen the bond of brotherliness among Nigeria’s various ethnic nationalities.

He appealed to all well-meaning Nigerians and community leaders to protect corps members in their areas, as according to him, members of the scheme who could be easily identified by their uniforms should be encouraged in their services to their fatherland.

The D-G assured parents, however, that even though his administration would not stop posting corps members to any state of the federation, no member would put on harm’s way through posting to areas, he described as, “flash points”.

His words, “we cannot exclude them(volatile states) from the NYSC because they are part of this country. But we will post them (corps members) to areas that are easily accessible to the authorities. The flash points have to be reviewed”.

The D-G added that authorities of the scheme would give attention to rural areas with a view to assisting in the much-needed development of the nation’s villages.

Brig. Gen. Okore-Affia condemned the practice of some employers of NYSC members who see them as cheap labour and refusing to employ qualified Nigerian graduates because they could always have new batches to serve with them.

“A lot of organizations, especially banks see NYSC as a means of cheap labour”, the D-G said , adding, “the approach we are going to adopt is to that they, (such banks) make commitments for the service to transcend one-year service.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/09/boko-haram-nysc-cancels-passing-out-parade/