2019: Nasarawa NYSC worries over undisclosed figure of corp members for elections

THE Coordinator, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Nasarawa state, Mrs Zainab Isah, said the scheme has been left in the dark over the comprehensive list of corps members to be engaged by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as ad hoc staff for the 2019 general elections in the state.

Isah speaking to journalists in Lafia on Wednesday who came to inquire about the number of corp members to be engaged in the election, said the NYSC was yet to get the list despite repeated requests put to INEC on the matter.

Expressing her deep dismay over the development which according to her calls for serious concern given the fact that the general elections commence in some days time.

“The situation is worrisome. As I speak to you, we still don’t have details on the number of those to be deployed and who they are. We made several attempts to INEC to release the information to us but nothing has reached us up till now. Yet the elections begins in about a week.

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“Other states have already concluded arrangements but ours is different. If INEC plans to engage corps members like it is done nationwide, then we have a right to know on time the number of those they will be engaging so that we can in our own capacity prepare them for the national assignment but as at now, nobody knows anything except INEC,” she said.

Isah said out of a total of 8460 corps members in Nasarawa state, about 5000 had indicated interest to contribute to their fatherland in the upcoming general elections as ad hoc staff but are yet to be contacted by INEC if they will be engaged or not despite participating in a training organised by INEC recently.

“The main issue is not even deployment but the number and who they will be engaging. We are in the dark because they have refused to carry us along. But we are parents and guardians to the corps members in the state.

“That is why we demand to be carried along with regards to their selection, welfare and other logistics concerning them. It is our duty to ask and our right to be given information on every corps members to be used in the forthcoming elections,” she said.

Meanwhile, efforts to reach Dr Uthman Ajidagba, Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state grant interview and speak on the matter proved abortive as he insisted that he was not prepared for an interview.