The National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) has debunked a story trending on social media of a corps member posted to Amotekun Corps for a one-year mandatory youth service programme.
The Assistant Director, Press, and Public Relations, NYSC Oyo State, Ms Christy Olatoye, in a statement on Saturday in Ibadan, said Amotekun was not included on the list of employers on the NYSC database.
She, however, said the Western Nigeria Security Network code-named “Amotekun” remained a respected organization.
Olatoye reiterated that a posting letter with such deployment did not emanate from the NYSC Oyo state.
“The attention of the NYSC Oyo state has been drawn to a story trending on the Social media of a corps member posted to Amotekun Corps.
“I want to set the record straight that it is the policy of the National Youth Service Corps to post Corps members to where they would be relevant and their services will be well utilized.
“While I admit that the Amotekun Corps is a respected organization in its line of assignment it is not included on the list of employers on our database. We only post to employers on our database.
She advised pranksters not to portray the scheme negatively.
“The National Youth Service Corps is a noble scheme that has served the nation for over five decades with notable achievements to our records.
“It is therefore not an organization that should be used as an object of prank,” she said.
Amotekun is a Yoruba word that means “One that looks like a leopard,” leopard is translated to “amotekun.” Because of this, Amotekun properly means cheetah, but as in this case, it is often mistransliterated to leopard.
Operation Amotekun (Leopard) was established on 9 January 2020 by the six state governors of all the South Western states of Nigeria, namely; Lagos State, Oyo State, Ogun State, Ondo State, Osun State, and Ekiti State.
The establishment of the security outfit was subject to the decision by all six state governors at the regional security summit held in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria in June 2019 through the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria Commission (DAWN).
NAN
