By ANAYO OKOLI

UMUAHIA— Dr. Sam Ahaiwe, the Federal Commissioner representing Abia State in National Population Commission, NPC, has called for comprehensive reform of the commission, National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, to make them purely skill acquisition based.

*Corps members

According to Ahaiwe, the reform should be designed to give the NYSC members training in skills, especially in the rudiments of agriculture, to enable them be self-employed after their service.

Ahaiwe said that youths of the country should be taken into consideration, so they could be engaged in meaningful ventures to guarantee their future.

The Commissioner spoke in Umuahia yesterday, as part of activities to mark the 2014 World Population Day, themed “Investing in Young People”.

He suggested that the reform in the NYSC should be carried out in a way that young graduates would be taught entrepreneurial skills to equip them for future challenges after leaving the service.

“As the Federal Government had brought up loans for farmers, they will benefit from the loan with which they will engage themselves after service,” the commissioner said.

He argued that when the youths were properly trained and equipped with good skills, the country would be better as more developments would be achieved.

He described the theme of this year’s celebration of World Population Day as apt, saying “when we consider what has been happening in the country in recent time, such as bombings by Boko-Haram insurgents.”

Ahaiwe blamed violent crimes as bombing, kidnapping and armed robbery on the youths, noting that the elderly could not do such crimes, including living in the bushes.

“We, therefore, need to invest in the youths if we want a better tomorrow, else people in the society will never sleep with their eyes closed, because there is a saying that an idle mind is a devil’s workshop. When they have nothing doing the next thing to do is to be a criminal,” he added.

The Abia NPC Federal Commissioner, however, commended the efforts of Abia State governor, Chief Theodore Orji, in empowering the youths in the state with vehicles with which they could fend for themselves.