Veteran Nollywood actress Kate Henshaw has called for the scrapping of the compulsory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

Citing insecurity as her reason, the actress stressed that the idea of the programme had been defeated due to the government’s failure to secure the lives of corps members.

She made this known on her X account on Wednesday.

Recalling her days as a corps member, Henshaw recounted how she enjoyed uninterrupted trips and the perks of owning the NYSC ID card.

“When I served in the North,it was a very memorable experience. Travelling from Bauchi by road to the airport was safe, and then flying to Lagos just with my NYSC ID card, which also got me rebate on my ticket,” she said.

Justifying the reasons for the call for the cancellation of the programme, she added, “It’s time to scrap this idea since corpers can’t travel within this country without let or hindrance! Stop putting the lives of young people at risk with moribund ideas. Security is a priority and needs to be sorted totally, not technically.”

The NYSC programme was instituted in 1973 by the then-Yakubu Gowon regime to serve as a unifier for Nigerians who were divided across religious and ethnic lines following the civil war of 1967 to 1970.

For years, the idea yielded positive results, but in recent times, the programme has encountered several challenges, especially insecurity, which has claimed the lives of innocent Nigerian graduates.

From being victims of election violence to kidnappings and civil unrest, Nigerian graduates have cited these reasons for their deployment to places where they feel relatively safe.