The Director-General of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier General Shuaibu Ibrahim, has reportedly expressed concern over recent controversy on the dress code for corps members.
In a statement issued by Mrs Adenike Adeyemi, NYSC’s Director of Press and Public Relations, Ibrahim urged corps members to always adhere to the dress code.
The DEFENDER recalls that NYSC authorities last Saturday 9th November 2019 expelled two female Christian youth corp members from orientation camp in Ebonyi State over refusal to wear trousers and short-knicker, an action that had been condemned by both Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC).
But the NYSC the statement by its spokesperson said: “The DG notes with great concern the negative perception of the scheme’s dress code, arising mostly from some corps members’ disobedience to the dictates of the code.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the scheme has maintained one dress code since May 22, 1973 when it was established, devoid of ethnic, religious or gender bias.
“The code remains a pair of khaki trousers and shirt; crested vest; white vest; a pair of white shorts; a pair of zebra-striped socks; a pair of jungle boots; a pair of canvas; belt and fez cap.
“This depends on camp activity at any point in any time.”
Ibrahim added that the NYSC camp, predicated on discipline and decency, is a training ground for corps members.
“Any other dress code contrary to the officially-sanctioned one will not promote the course of decency,” he stated.
According to him, it will be reprehensible for a female corps member to embark on obstacle crossing and other physical training activities on camp, including parade, in skirt or gown.
“Those will expose her indecently, thus, leaving little or nothing to imagination.
“The management observed with dismay the defacing of the NYSC uniform by some corps members by reshaping their khaki trousers, making them skin-tight, which unduly expose their curvatures, particularly the female corps members.
“Some others, in the name of religion, turn the pair of trousers issued to them into skirts.
“The scheme, therefore, considers the unwholesome act as an affront to decency on one hand and constituted authority on the other.
“It was for that reason that the scheme came up with the policy of having prospective corps members sign undertaking forms to the effect that they will not deface the NYSC uniform, but abide by the dress code for corps members,” the statement added.
The NYSC director-general clarified that organisation did not issue hijab as part of its dress code.
“Rather, the scheme permits the use of white hijab, which must not be more than shoulder length and must be tucked into the uniform.
“The policy of allowing hijab, which does not deface the NYSC uniform, is not new, as it has been there.
“The NYSC wishes to assure Nigerians and place on record that it will continue to be single-minded in pursuit of its core mandate of achieving a united, integrated, egalitarian and hate-free nation.
“It shall never do anything untoward to undermine or abridge gratuitously the rights of individuals or institutions based on parochial considerations,” he said.
