Independent National Electoral Commission will, after reviewing 2019 general elections, reward each corps member who performed excellently in the elections with automatic employment.

INEC Chairman Mr Mahmood Yakubu stated this in Abuja yesterday during the donation of laptops and phones used by European Union Observation Mission (EUOM) to 75 youth corps members in appreciation of their dedication during 2019 general elections.

Yakubu said it would have been impossible for the elections to take place without National Youth Service Corps members who served as adhoc staff of the commission.

“In addition to what EU is going to do today by presenting you with these equipment, the commission has embarked on the review of 2019 general elections. There are many of you here and many of you not in this hall, who did very well in the elections. We’ll identify you and reward those who have done excellently in the elections with automatic employment. We extend this beyond the general elections, but to the major elections we’re going to conduct in November: in Kogi and Bayelsa gubernatorial elections as well.

“I said this before and I want to say it again that youth corps members are the most dedicated, educated, patriotic, willing, able and readily available participants in the elections and even after,” Yakubu said.

Head of European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mr Ketil Karlsen, described youths as the “backbone of democracy as they are key to improving the electoral process in Nigeria. “We started a very important journey a long time ago. We wanted to make the election process about engaging the youth. More than 60 percent of the Nigerian population voters are youths. For Nigeria to see an improvement in the democratic process, it has to see an increased involvement of youths,” Karlsen stated. He said EU had submitted its findings from the 2019 elections and that it showed that the elections were not perfect, but there was room for improvement.

NYSC Director-General Mr Shuaibu Ibrahim said with over 300,000 youths mobilised annually, NYSC, through various programmes, had been creating opportunities for corps members to discover and harness their potentials for personal and national development. He said the collaboration between INEC and NYSC on election duties had contributed to the enhancement of visibility of the scheme.

Daily Trust