The Director General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier General Yusha’u Dogara Ahmed has stated that over 200,000 corps members would serve as officials in the forthcoming general elections.
General Ahmed disclosed this on Tuesday, February 21, 2023, at a press briefing in Abuja to highlight the preparedness of the Scheme towards the forthcoming 2023 general elections.
According to the DG, over 75% of adhoc staff to conduct the elections were corps members, who had been trained by INEC officials. “They have been well informed and they are ready to give their best, we expect nothing short of professional conduct in this all important assignment”, General Ahmed said.
He informed that, the collaboration between INEC and NYSC began in 2011, wherein corps members participated in both general and state elections and performed wonderfully well, which had attracted commendations both nationally and internationally.
With regards the security of the corp members during and after the election, the NYSC Boss said he had met the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Directorate for State Services (DSS), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) INEC to ensure that every hand was on deck to secure the Corp members:
“We were assured by INEC that they would carry these corps members to their respective places of assignment and they promised us that they will bring them back safely. Their security is priority.
“The welfare of the Corps Members have been promised by INEC. They promised to provide them with sleeping kits and all that is required. In whatever environment they find themselves, they must not accept food or any gift from politicians”, the NYSC Helmsman noted.
He also announced that the NYSC had established distress call centers at the headquarters, in the event where a corp member was faced with difficulties, there wear people to man the centers 24/7 and provide assistance for the period of the elections.
He further informed that no corps member was deployed to flash points where there were serious security challenges.
As a note of warning, General Ahmed stressed that any Corps member caught in election malpractice would face the full wrath of the law as they were not exempted from it.
