The National Youth Service Corps on Wednesday warned female corps members who are pregnant to stay away from election duties.
The agency said the warning was meant to safeguard the expectant mothers and their babies.
Speaking in Abeokuta, the Ogun State NYSC State Coordinator, Mrs. Josephine Bakare, disclosed this while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abeokuta at a sensitisation programme for corps members.
She said no fewer than 17,000 corps members had been confirmed as ad hoc staff for the forthcoming elections in Ogun.
While assuring participating corps members that adequate provision for welfare and accommodation had been made with the NYSC Local Government Inspectors, she appealed to pregnant corps members to refrain from participating in the exercise for their safety and those of their unborn babies.
Also speaking, the NYSC Assistant Director of Human Resource Management, Mrs. Franca Olaleye, who represented the Director-General, Maj.-Gen. Suleiman Kazaure, urged corps members to give their best representation and fly the NYSC flag aloft.
“Patriotism, discipline and commitment must be your watch word as you engrave your names in gold in the history of the elections, making it not only peaceful but also successful.
“This assignment is very sensitive and as such, no one of you must be caught displaying partisanship or collecting graft or inducement from anyone.
“If you are caught in any incriminating or irresponsible act, you will be apprehended and prosecuted accordingly,” Kazaure said.
Kazaure further urged corps members to be on the lookout for miscreants who disguise as corps members to perpetrate mischief.
“You must be vigilant and report anyone who is seen in very newly sown uniform. If the person is authentic, they must be able to identify themselves appropriately.
“Ogun State is fully prepared to secure your lives,” he said.
Security representatives from the Army, Police and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, who sensitised corps members on safety awareness measures, also provided them with distress call centre numbers.
Some given numbers are 08139880080, 09092989929 and 07052374757.
(NAN)
Comments are closed.