Mark Brown, the Chairman, Lagos State Karate Referees Association, on Monday urged National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members not to shy away from the martial arts during their service year.
He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that there was need for corps members to have basic knowledge of self-defence.
“Corps members are usually involved in the electoral process in the country, some of them have lost their lives and we begin to see the need for it for young people, especially corps members.
“I feel that they should have some form of self-defence training, if some of them had knowledge of self-defence, maybe what happened would not have happened.
“With security challenges in the country here and there, everybody should have the basics of self-defence before looking up to the government to provide larger security,’’ he said.
Brown, who trains the Lagos State Corps members at the Iyana-Ipaja, NYSC Orientation Camp said: “What we did in camp for the three weeks was the introductory session to sensitise them but a lot of them after camp asked that where can they continue?
“Most times, they spend 11 months after the camp and that is a long time for them to have learnt some basics of self-defence and which can come handy when the need arises’’.
He said that he hoped that martial arts would be embraced as a general norm in all states during the NYSC, adding that sports also made people physically fit.
“A lot of young people these days are not as fit as they should because endurance trekk has been cancelled because of security issues, so, most times everyone is hopping from one bus to another.
“Thereby making people less fit, martial arts are a total package, especially Karate for fitness development in a corps member as well as providing an opportunity for self-defence,’’ he said.
He also canvassed for the introduction of martial arts at every level of education, especially for instilling discipline, adding that he got introduced to the sport at age 10. (NAN)