Impressed by the proactive steps adopted by the hierarchy of the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) to safeguard lives and property of corp members all across Nigeria in this season of heightened insecurity, a civil society organisation, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to keep up the good work.
HURIWA said it is aware that the NYSC, the Department of State Services (DSS), and the Nigerian Army have a good working partnership to jointly activate proactive mechanisms to prevent the occurrences of any kinds of security threats that will put the lives of our youths at risk. This is a very patriotic step that must be commended by all and sundry and to encourage these partners to ensure that their good intentions are consistently met.
HURIWA has called on all citizens to work for national peace and dialogue because war has no solution to our challenges as a developing society.
HURIWA said it has resolved to write to the President and the National Assembly to activate mechanisms to legally bring into existence the NYSC YOUTH TRUST FUND as envisaged and articulated by the head of the NYSC in Nigeria even as the Rights group said such an initiative must be put in place as a way to radically reduce youth unemployment and boost the private sector with innovative and fresh minds trained in the best traditions of excellence as currently in place in the NYSC’s skills and entrepreneurial department.
In a statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director, Miss Zainab Yusuf, the Civil Rights group applauded the federal government for remaining consistent in providing the enabling environment for the constant mobilisation and deployment of thousands of youngsters produced from tertiary educational institutions to serve Nigeria even as the Rights group said maintaining the vibrancy of the scheme of NYSC will go down in history as one of the finest legacies of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
HURIWA said:” We are delighted to read from the popular media of mass communication that the National Youth Service Corps Director-General, Brigadier General Shuaibu Ibrahim had advocated for the establishment of NYSC Trust Fund that would cater for the financial empowerment of all Corps Members as they pass out from Service. We share his vision and passion in seeking to mainstream high levels of innovation, problem-solving skills, productivity, and competence in the governance of the NYSC.
“We believe that this epochal proposal for a TRUST FUND will inevitably help the young citizens to establish their vocational businesses with the skills they acquire from the NYSC Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development Programme in the course of service. We think it’s also symbolic that General Ibrahim suggested this laudable initiative when he paid a courtesy visit to the former Head of State and founder of the NYSC Scheme, General Yakubu Gowon at his residence in Abuja”, HURIWA asserted.
Hear him: “The establishment of the Trust Fund would also reduce the level of unemployment among the youths while curbing the increasing rate of crime in the country. Since 2012 when the NYSC Scheme introduced Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development Department into its Orientation Course content, it has partnered with the Central Bank of Nigeria, Bank of Industry, and other financial institutions in respect of offering credit facilities to Corps Members to establish their businesses.”
The Rights group supports the proposal that the funding of the NYSC YOUTH TRUST FUND should come from a certain percentage of profit accruing to some corporate bodies, and such funds can be used to expand NYSC Orientation Camps and renovate the camp facilities.
“HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA as a credible civil society stakeholder will add our voice to this phenomenal call by drafting a letter to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the hierarchy of the National Assembly or do a widely publicised open letter to these heads of the executive and the legislative arms of government to advocate the immediate introduction of the NYSC YOUTH TRUST FUND”.
“This is because HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA believe that the establishment of this useful project will significantly improve the stability, security and economic wellbeing of not just the youths but the larger society because we believe that when the greater percentage of our trained young minds are gainfully employed, there will automatically be a reduction sharply of the threats to the national security of Nigeria because an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. More than ever, we think this is an idea whose time has come and it is logical, constitutional, and commonsensical to so introduce”.
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