By Ife Osemedua
365Daily – The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has declared that it is not mobilising any member of the corps for war.
The Deputy Director (Publications), Emeka Mgbemena, in a statement issued on Friday, June 4, 2021, on behalf of its Director (Press and Public Relations), Adenike Adeyemi, said the Director General of the Corps, Brig.-Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim, was misquoted.
He said: ‘This is to clarify the misrepresentation of the NYSC Director- General’s recent interview with the media currently trending on the social media.
“The Director-General had stated that in line with the National Defence Policy, corps members are like soldiers on reserve, because their education, exposure and sophistication, can make them easily adaptable to military training.
“He charged them to remain focused and patriotic; and for the spirit of NYSC to live in all Nigerians.
“General Ibrahim never at any point said that corps members are being mobilised to fight war.
“The scheme shall continue to safeguard the interest of corps members at all times.”
The clarification came after public criticism of Ibrahim for saying while appearing on Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’ programme on Wednesday, June 2, 2021, that corps members are on reserve as part of the national defence policy.
He was reacting to the proposed scrap of the NYSC scheme.
The NYSC boss had said: “Corps members are on reserve. They are part of the national defence policy of this country. So, where there is serious war, our corps members are educated, they are knowledgeable and they can be trained. You see the drill and so on.
“You can imagine within the short three weeks in the orientation camps, the corps members are moulded. They are like soldiers. You see female corps members blowing the army horn, playing with the military band.
“So, if not for the knowledge, where are you going to mobilise such young Nigerians to train them quickly to put in their best for the country? So, corps members are on reserve. They are also part of the national defence policy.”