Rep Orders NYSC to redeploy corps members posted to Northern States.

The House of Representatives, yesterday, directed the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to cancel all postings of corps members to states in the North which are faced with security challenges.

Mr Peter Edeh who moved the motion yesterday, expressed concerns that it was on record that several corps members had lost their lives in these crisis-prone states in the past, he further said that it would be unreasonable, to post corps members to the troubled states. He called for the cancellation of all corps members’ postings to the troubled states was further necessitated by the fact that corps members were ill-equipped and ill-trained to defend themselves in the face of unprovoked attack.

His motion was supported by the Minority Leader of the House, Femi Gabjabiamila, who added that the notion that corps members must serve outside their states of origin was wrong, that the framers of the NYSC Act did not envisage such threats to lives of innocent Nigerian youths.He said, where there was obvious security threat, there was nothing wrong to temporarily leave out crisis-prone states in the posting of corps members in the Northern parts of Nigeria.

The house passed a resolution on the motion moved by Mr Peter Edeh, under matters of urgent public importance, the House directed the NYSC to maintain the same, such stance until the security threats in the affected states had been satisfactorily addressed.

The House also added that corps members who opted to serve in the troubled states, to be allowed to do so.

Hon Ahmed Kaita and Hon Kyari Gujbawu who seriously opposed the motion said, that the motion was not in line with the philosophy of the NYSC vision, the further added that the action would defeat the purpose of the vision but Hon Gujbawu cautioned that if is allowed to fly, it would set a dangerous precedence, adding that the security agencies should rather be urged to step-up their operations to guarantee the security of the corps members when posted. The Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha who presided over the session, put the motion to vote and members unanimously voted in favour of the motion.

Wingrass reporters were informed that on Monday, corps members under the present Batch B that was recently posted to the north protested at the headquarters of the NYSC in Abuja. The affected corps members demanded that the authorities should repost them to safer states in the country.