The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has described the decision of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) management to ban pregnant women and nursing mothers from participating in the yearly scheme as discriminatory and unconstitutional.
HURIWA in a statement jointly signed by its National Coordinator and National Media Affairs Director, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and Zainab Yusuf respectively, said the corps’ decision is a form of apartheid which will exclude those affected from deriving the benefits of the programme which is for national integration.
According to the statement, section 42 (1) of the Constitution of 1999 (as amended) clearly spelt out that government policy cannot be couched and implemented to primarily discriminate against any group of citizens under any guise.
“The Statutes of NYSC which was erroneously cited and misinterpreted as the authority for reaching this untoward policy by NYSC’s management team becomes null and void if it contravenes or contradicts the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution”, it said.
