Sowore Urges NYSC Discontinuation After Recent Corps Members' Kidn*p

Omoyele Sowore, the presidential candidate for the African Action Congress (AAC), has demanded the immediate suspension and eventual abolition of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) program. This call comes in the wake of the recent kidn*pping of prospective corps members in Imo State.

In a Saturday post on the social media platform X, Sowore highlighted that the abduction of young Nigerians en route to their orientation camps underscores the inherent risks of mandating graduates to travel across the country for national service. The incident involved gunmen attacking two buses on Thursday along the Owerri-Onitsha Road within the Umunoha area of Imo State. The victims were prospective corps members journeying from Ibadan, Oyo State, to their assigned orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states.

Following the attack, the Imo State Police Command confirmed that some of the abducted individuals had been rescued by security agencies, with ongoing efforts to locate those still missing.

Reacting to these developments, Sowore asserted that the NYSC scheme "outlived its usefulness in its present form," a stance he has maintained since his initial presidential campaign in 2019. He emphasized, "You cannot force young Nigerians to ‘serve their fatherland’ when the same country cannot guarantee their safety while they travel to their places of service."

He further advocated, "The NYSC should be suspended immediately and ultimately scrapped. In the meantime, all corps members should be given the option to serve within their states of origin." Sowore argued against compelling graduates to undertake long-distance travel to unfamiliar locations for compulsory national service, especially amidst the pervasive insecurity across Nigeria.

Looking ahead, Sowore proposed that under a potential "Sowore 2027 presidency," the NYSC would be replaced by a two-year voluntary National Job Corps. He detailed that this proposed initiative would focus on critical areas such as employment generation, skills development, public works, technology, agriculture, healthcare, and education, all aimed at national advancement. "Young Nigerians need jobs, opportunities, skills and security, not compulsory deployment into danger," he declared.

Sowore's statements coincided with intensified efforts by security agencies to rescue the kidn*pped prospective corps members and other passengers. The Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, had previously deployed the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Operations, Shehu Nadada, to Imo State to oversee the search and rescue mission. Two police commissioners were also assigned to the operation.

According to a report by Saturday PUNCH, the abductors had demanded a ransom of N50 million for each of the 19 prospective corps members, totaling N950 million, after taking them into the bush. This incident has reignited serious concerns regarding the safety of corps members and those slated for national service when traveling between states.