From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) board chairman, Hillard Eta, has revealed that his board will consider the possibility of recruiting serving corps members into the various Nigeria security agencies.
Eta spoke on the sidelines after a courtesy visit on the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday.
He emphasised that if countries like Israel, and South Korea could use the method of recruiting personnel through the scheme to enhance their security, why can’t it be replicated in Nigeria.
The former APC National Vice Chairman South-South who lamented that four months after the appointment of the board, it is yet to be inaugurated, also disclosed that his board will also consider changing the uniform of the corps members.
Revealing that the board will also look into into suggestion of increasing the duration of the scheme to two years, Eta said that he is yet to come to the reality why the most fashionable demography in Nigeria should be forced to continue using one uniform for over 50 years it was first fashioned.
Asked if he will endorse the recruitment of the corps members into the security agencies, Eta replied; “Of course, why not. With the population of over 200 million people, only about half a million in uniform is completely inadequate.”
“Countries like Israel, and South Korea use this kind of scheme to enhance their security. It is possible for us to do so even if we must train them and put them in their reserves,” he said.
On the possibility of increasing the duration of the scheme, Eta said; “What I think we should do generally when we come on board is to give the stakeholders and other Nigerians the opportunity to actually think through how this scheme can be used for entrance into the security agencies.
“There are people who suggested that the scheme should be extended to two years. The other persons suggested that everybody who comes through the scheme must be militarily trained. But, if we are going to have about a million people come through the scheme, I don’t think that the military institution has the capacity to train a million people.
“There are so many things to be worked out whether the recruitment into is going to be optional or compulsory. Inasmuch as I think about this, they are issues that I would need to consult with other stakeholders,” he said.
While frowning at the delay in the inauguration of his board, Eta said: “I cannot say on whose table is responsible for what has happened to the process, but I do know that ministries such as Agriculture, Water Resources, have had the inauguration of their chairmen.
“I also know that in the governing board of the NYSC, we have institutional representations, some from the Police, Army, Committee of Rectors, Vice Chancellors, among others. We may not know whether they are yet to nominate their representative. This could be part of the reasons that may be causing the delay for the inauguration.
“I am as perplexed as every other person that four months after, we are still here without inauguration. On whether it has affected our operation, I will say definitely yes because I am supposed to manage the board and if I don’t have a composed board to Chair, it will definitely affect the operations of the NYSC. The board is quite central to the operations of the scheme.
“There are so many things we will do with the scheme. In fact, take the uniform if the NYSC. That uniform was first fashioned in 1973 and even the most conservative military formation, the Army, has had its uniform changed overtime for about two to three times from 1973.
It’s quite embarrassing that the demography, between the ages of 18 to 30, that is the most fashionable in Nigeria is forced to wear the kind of dress they wear and call it uniform. It is also important that we look at the demography that is within that scheme that are in other parts of the world that are depended on to create new things, especially in the ICT and AI industries of today.”
On how he intends to improve the scheme, he said: “It could be used to create the biggest and largest empowerment programme that any government can possibly conceive. The truth is that most graduates of our High Institutions are no more employable. And because they are without skills, they have become a burden to the system.”
“So, my intention is to use that scheme to change the narrative as we have it today in Nigeria. It is also possible for the scheme to create a process where every graduate from tertiary institution is trained properly. Good enough the scheme has what is called Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Department (SAED) but I believe that it will be comprehensively overhauled and made the central focus of the scheme.
“If you go the 37 camps, apart from two or three camps, like Port Harcourt, Nasarawa and perhaps Bauchi, other camps are not all that conducive for these people to excel. I believe that we should do something about the camps because I believe that they should be upgraded to a smart camp to the point that they can be trained in ICT and AI. They should have the ability to do so much in the camp. But I am just the chairman designate and there is very little I can do without the board. So I will wait for the board to be inaugurated,” he said.