NYSC to deploy corps members for 2015 elections

Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier-General Johnson Olawumi, on Thursday, said despite the challenges of the aftermath of the 2011 elections, corps members would still be deployed for election duties across the country during the 2015 general election.He said adequate measures had been put in place to protect the lives of the corp members, who would partcipate in the election.Olawumi, who said this in Ikare-Akoko, Ondo State, at the inauguration of the Batch ‘C’ of the 2014 corps members deployed in the state, said the organisation had learnt from the mistake of 2011 and would be ready to allow corp members to partcipate in election duties.It will be recalled that some corp members,who participated in the 2011 elections in some states in the Northern part of the country were killed by poltical thugs after results of the presidential election were announced.According to him, the decision to deploy corp members for the exercise was that of the Federal Government, saying the agreement with the Independent National Electoral Commissin (INEC) over the issue stood.He noted that the contributions of corp members to the development of the electoral system of the country could not be overemphasised, saying challenges of the past would not deter the process.Olawumi explained that Nigerians had realised that since the youth corp members started participating in elections of the country in 2011, the results had been acceptable and commendable by thepeople.“The decision for corp members to take part in election was taken by government and for the simple reason that they are well dispersed all over the nooks and crannies of the country; and I want to statecategorically that since corp membrrs have started taken part in elections in Nigeria, our elections have continued to gain credibility.“The agreement between NYSC and INEC still stands and what that means is that corp members will take part in 2015 elections all over Nigeria, as long as there will be election, they be part of it.“However, I must state clearly that we are not sleeping, we have learnt from our past mistakes, we have studied what happened in the last election and have put measures in place for the safety and security of corp members,” he said.The Ondo State coordinator of NYSC, AlhajiOlanrewaju Kuoye, said 2400 corp members were deployed in the state, but 2395 had registered as of the commencement of the ceremony.Meanwhile, the Oyo State governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has charged new corps members in the state to be creative-minded during and after service year.In a related development, Kano State governor, Dr Rasbiu Musa Kwankwaso, hasassured over 3,000 youth corps members who were to undergo one year service programme in the state of adequate security during their service year, saying they should regard the state as their parental home.The state Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Alhaji Umar Farouk Arisekola-Alao, who represented the governor disclosed this on Thursday, at the swering-in ceremony of 2014 Batch ‘C’ stream one, held at the NYSC permanent orientation camp, Iseyin, Oyo State.He said the service was about breaking new grounds, saying NYSC had become a veritable instrument to encountering challenges and richness of the nigerian nation.The Ondo state governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, congratulated the corp members for the feat and enjoined them not to allow the riggour and challenges of the orientation campmto distract them.