The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has warned corps members willing to participate in the 2023 general elections to be neutral and apolitical.
Christy Uba, the acting director general of NYSC, disclosed this while addressing corps members on Saturday at the Mbaukwu/Umuawulu Permanent Orientation camp in the Anambra state’s Awka South Local Government Area.
The 2023 Batch C members’ cultural carnival, which was held in Anambra, was observed by Uba.
According to the acting DG, corps members’ participation in election duty is entirely voluntary, and those who do so are required to abstain from any unethical behavior that would jeopardize the fairness of the election or the program’s good name.
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She said the NYSC would not hesitate to surrender any corps member with a proven case of electoral malfeasance to the state to face the laws of the land.
“If you are to participate in the 2023 election, please note that it is an ad hoc assignment, you must be neutral and apolitical.
“Do not participate in a wrong manner, you are not a politician as corps members, you may be in future but for now, you are corps members.
“If you run foul of any electoral law, you are going to prison, NYSC can not cover you up, once they come for you stating that you ran foul of the law, we will surrender you to the state.
“Participation in the election is voluntary, it is optional, you have a choice to make but if you have decided to participate, make sure you take part in all the training and sensitisation so that you can understand your role and boundaries,” she said.
Uba commended the corps members for their good behaviour in camp while charging them to go to their places of primary assignment and contribute to national development through service to communities.
She thanked the Anambra Government for building a good orientation camp for the scheme and urged other states in the country which were yet to build a permanent camp to do so.
The Ag DG advised the corps members to imbibe all the training they were getting in camp and invest in post-camp entrepreneurial skill acquisition, to help them master their various trades and be job creators.
