NYSC Ban: Benue Students Protest, Demand Reverse Of Decision In 24Hrs
Loading ...From Msughshima Andrew, Makurdi
Angry prospective corp members and students from the University of Agriculture, Makurdi, UAM, Benue State University, BSU, and Fidei Polytechnic, Gboko, today, took to the streets and blocked the entrance of the state Secretariat of the National Youth Service Corp, (NYSC), in protest of the ban placed on their schools.
It would be recalled that the NYSC has banned the above named universities from sending their students for the mandatory one year service following alleged discovery of negligence and errors connected with figures after years of mobilization as reviewed, and also evidence of high level of manipulation.
The students who took their protest to the state coordinator of NYSC, Eno Herbert, early hours of Wednesday demanded that they be mobilized for service this year.
Chanting solidarity songs, the students bore placards with various inscriptions; “NYSC free BSU, UAM, FIDEI students”, “SAVE BENUE GRADUATES”, “NYSC IS OUR RIGHTS AS GRADUATES”, GIIVE US OUR RIGHTS, NYSC”, “NYSC WHY”, “STATE AND NATIONAL ASSEMBLY COME TO OUR RESCUE” among others.
Speaking to journalists, the students from UAM and BSU, David Pine and Ajimaka Fanen demanded that the two year ban placed on them by NYSC be reversed within 24 hours just as they described the ban as an act of injustice and one that could jeopardized their future.
The students called on the NYSC to identify and fish out those behind the act and sanction them rather than punishing the entire students who know nothing about it.
While the entrance gate of thestate NYSC secretariat was shut down by the angry students for several hours despite security presence, it took the intervention of the outgoing state coordinator, Mrs Eno Herbert to calm them down.
Addressing the students, the NYSC coordinator called for calm assuring that their demand would be communicated to the headquarters and be looked into.
“The exercise that is going on is not to punish any studen and we on this acheme will mot support any student being punished because these students are our children.
“But the student affairs officers that have done this and have brought hardship on the atudents will be punished”, say said.
The angry students apparently satisfied, insisted that action must seen to be done before the end of the day before they eventually dispatched.
