Activist Mahdi Shehu has called on the Federal Government to scrap the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), citing the growing risk of kidnapping faced by graduates travelling to orientation camps.
Speaking on Channels Television, Shehu said recent abductions involving prospective corps members travelling to camps in Akwa Ibom and Abuja showed the dangers associated with compulsory interstate deployment.
He argued that while the NYSC was created to promote national unity, the programme should be reconsidered if corps members are exposed to serious security threats while travelling between states.
“The entire NYSC was meant to unite Nigeria, but if in uniting Nigeria, you lose your daughter, you lose your son, you lose your uncle, you lose your sister, you lose your neighbour, then it’s not worth the trouble,” Shehu said.
He proposed allowing graduates to complete their service in their respective states, saying this would reduce the risks and costs associated with interstate travel.
Shehu also alleged that some politicians had falsified NYSC certificates despite questioning the relevance of the programme.
“As far as I’m concerned, the NYSC programme has outlived its usefulness. It should be scrapped,” he said.
On the wider security situation, Shehu said kidnappers were increasingly targeting corps members and other travellers as vulnerable victims, with ransom payments potentially sustaining criminal operations.
He described kidnapping as a broader security and governance challenge and called for greater attention to the factors enabling the attacks.
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