The Director-General of the National Youths Service Corps, Brigadier General Dogara Ahmed has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to ensure the security, welfare, and comfort of the Corps members participating in the general election a top priority.
Brigadier General Ahmed stated this today in Abuja when he led a delegation to the INEC headquarters.
He said that NYSC was committed to assisting INEC to conduct free, fair, and credible elections next month.
“The NYSC had been sensitizing the Corps members on the importance of participating in the election.
“We made it clear to them that they must do their best and take responsibility.”
He also urged the Commission to ensure adequate security arrangements were made for the Corps members.
“On our part, we would continue to let them know that they would be adequately secured.
“We have visited the Inspector General of Police, we have visited the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and the Military and every one of them has promises that everything would be done to secure the Corps members on Election days.
The NYSC boss said despite fears expressed in some quarters, the Commission had been sensitizing the Corps members that participating in the election was a National Service.
Responding, the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu said that the security, comfort, and welfare of the Corps would be taken care of.
“When we deploy them for election, they are expected to sleep over at the Super Registration Area Centres, RACS, we would ensure they are comfortable at those centres”.
“We have been working with the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security to provide adequate protection for the Corps members. We also discussed with members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers to ensure they brought them back in safely after the polls.”
Prof Yakubu said that INEC had been using the training schedule sent to them by the NYSC to train the ad-hoc staff in readiness for the general election.
The NYSC Boss also promised the NYSC delegation that the Corps members in Enugu and Kano would also be trained before they leave NYSC orientation camps.
He gave an assurance that INEC would continue to implement the terms of the MOU the Commission signed with the NYSC.
