The management of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC has refuted an online publication stating that Corps Members have been withdrawn from participating as ad-hoc officers in three Local Government Areas of Imo State during the forthcoming Presidential and National Assembly elections on Saturday 25 February 2023.
This is contained in a statement issued by the Director of press and public relations of NYSC, Mr Eddy Megwa.
Mr Megwa said “for the avoidance of doubt, the existing Memorandum of Understanding between NYSC and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC on a seamless conduct of elections in Nigeria is still on course.
“NYSC Scheme is in total support of the conduct of free, fair and credible elections in the country. All the trained Corps Members in every State of the federation are set for the general elections.
“The management of the Scheme wants to state categorically that Corps Members are not withdrawn from participating in the elections in some Local Government Areas in Imo State, rather, we are against posting Corps Members to areas we consider not safe for them owing to insecurity,” he noted.
He said before now, there were some Local Government Areas in Imo State considered as flash points and therefore, the Scheme could not allow Corps Members to serve in such areas during the general election.
He further said that “prior to the 2023 general elections, the Scheme reached out to all Stakeholders to provide enabling environment for the Corps Members to effectively contribute their quota during the general elections, and as such, would not endanger the lives of any of our Corps Members.
Consequently, Corps Members cannot be posted to such flash points to serve as INEC ad hoc staff. We have clearly made our position known to the REC in Imo State”, he added.
The Director press and public relations of NYSC, Mr Eddy Megwa therefore called on members of the public to disregard the misleading and baseless online information meant to undermine the integrity and image of the Scheme.
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