The National Youth Service Scheme, NYSC has vowed to invoke relevant extant laws of the scheme and punish truant corps members who embarked on any unapproved journeys especially between local Government areas and interstates.
The Katsina State Coordinator of the Scheme, Alhaji Ahidjo Yahaya who made the declaration at the katsina orientation camp, during the swearing-in ceremony of the 2019 batch B stream 2 orientation program for corps members deployed to the state, said the rules and regulation guiding the activities of the scheme have been there since 1973, including such provisions that might lead to extending the services of erring members or re mobilizing them.
He said ’’60 per cent of the journeys are usually done without permissions from relevant authorities of the scheme in the state, event the Funtua journey that recorded 3 deaths and 14 injuries on Sunday, August 18 road accident, was not authorized’’
‘’I warned them but they did not listen. we have structures on ground including; Zonal Coordinators, Inspectors and liaison officers from whom they could obtain permission from each time they want to travel but they will not follow that’’.
He further disclosed that 1,339 members were registered for the orientation comprising of 781 male and 558 females.
He described the orientation service as the as first of the NYSC cardinal programs designed to usher in the corps members with a view to giving them better understanding of the objectives of the scheme.
Some of the activities slated for the orientation program include: Skill Acquisition, Entrepreneurship Development, Marshal Arts Training, Military Drill, Citizenship and Leadership Training, and so on.
The State Governor, Aminu Bello Masari in his address read by the Director of youth development in the state ministry of youth and Sports, Alhaji Hussain Abdullahi Dangani, urged the corps members to maintain discipline and participate in all activities of the orientation course.
He said ’’you should be the best that the country will be proud of and see yourselves as agents of change agenda. You must shun corruption and other vices and embrace integrity and humility’’