As controversy over the relevance or otherwise of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) continues, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has warned that scrapping the scheme may increase crime rate and unemployment in the land.
HURIWA stated that rather than scrap the scheme, it should be repositioned, as many of its noble values have been eroded.
National Coordinator of HURIWA, Emmanuel Onwubiko, while urging President Muhammadu Buhari, to preserve national legacies that NYSC represents, said with over 100,000 graduates, the scheme helps to temporarily absorb them to give youths some respite.
Onwubiko said the scheme has provided the opportunity for Nigerian youths to acquire the spirit of self-reliance by developing skills for self-employment; contribute to accelerated growth of national economy and develop common ties to promote national unity and integration.
The organisation said its research and opinion poll showed that Nigerians want the scheme preserved.
A lawmaker in the House of Representatives, Mr Awaji-Inombek Abiante, in a bill that has passed second reading, had called for the scrapping of the scheme because of insecurity.
But Onwubiko, who opposed the move said: “If there is one thing the National Assembly has done exceedingly well since the return of democratic rule, it is playing to the gallery. Inconsequential laws have always received greater attention, while the lacunas to be filled with progressive legislations and legislative interventions are left largely unattended to.
