LAGOS– As part of measures to curb insecurity in the country, the Governor of Taraba State, Darius Ishaku, has suggested that members of the National Youth Service Corps should be allowed to undergo full military training to know how to handle guns for self-defense.
Ishaku also suggested that the duration of the youth scheme should be extended to two years from one year, to allow sufficient military training for graduates.
The Taraba Governor stated this on Wednesday night when he appeared on Channels Television programme, ‘Politics Today’.
Taraba state is one of the North-East States affected by Boko Haram insurgency; couple with the killings of armed bandits.
Ishaku emphasized that citizens should be allowed to bear arms and defend themselves against aggressors.
He said, “When the security can’t protect you, then something in the alternative must come in, we must be practical. Train people, give them practical induction, let them know what to do.
“The NYSC I will say should be two years. One year for compulsory military training and the other year for the social works that they are doing now so that anybody who graduates as an NYSC person can know how to handle the gun and defend himself just as it is done in Israel, Lebanon and other places, you must engage your citizens to be proactive. When you cannot provide security, you must allow the people to protect themselves.”
The governor further lamented that bandits and terrorists terrorizing the people, wreaking unimaginable destruction and unprintable bloodshed in the North-East were sponsored by some influential persons in the country.
Ishaku in his query said that “There are sponsors, these are brand new AK-47s. How would a local man buy such an expensive weapon? It is in a video and all over the place where someone confessed that the guns were being given to them and they were being trained on how to use them. It is the work of the security agents to get to the roots of this.
“If they can go out of this country and capture somebody who is declaring independence, why is it impossible for them to defend our people who are being killed in the farms?”
He then expressed optimism that the insecurity in the North-East and in all parts of the country can be defeated when the political class and security agents stamp their feet on the ground and ready to end the menace.
It had earlier been reported that the Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps, Brig. Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim, said corps members are part of the national defence policy of Nigeria and can be mobilised for war if need be.
Ibrahim while reacting to moves to scrap the NYSC scheme which is compulsory for all Nigerians who graduate before the age of 30 had said, “You can imagine within the short three weeks in the orientation camps, the corps members are molded. They are like soldiers. You see female corps members blowing the army horn, playing with the military band.
“So, if not for the knowledge, where are you going to mobilize such young Nigerians to train them quickly to put in their best for the country?
“So, corps members are on reserve. They are also part of the national defense policy. Parents should teach their children the spirit of patriotism.”
