The Director-General, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brig.-Gen. Yush’au Ahmed, has urged state governments and all other stakeholders to play their role in securing corps members in their domains.
Ahmed made the call on Wednesday in Abuja at the opening of a two-day meeting of NYSC management with representatives of state governments.
According to him, safety of corps members in all service locations remains a top priority of the scheme.
“In this regard, we are stepping up our liaison with security agencies, which have been very supportive.
“It is important that state and local governments as well as other stakeholders such as traditional rulers, religious and community leaders play their expected roles in securing corps members,” he said.
The D-G also said that in view of the dangers associated with night journeys, NYSC management had been sensitising both prospective and serving corps members on the need to stop such dangerous adventures.
“Accordingly, I must use this medium to call on the state governments to join hands with the scheme in discouraging corps members from night journeys.
“As a matter of urgent concern, I appeal to the state governments to initiate policies in this direction.
“Reach out to the Corps Producing Institutions, other stakeholders and transport companies in their states to stop conveying corps members to various locations during night hours,” he added.
He added that corps members are expected to cut their journey by 6.00 p.m. and pass the night at corps lodges, military formations and other places officially designated as safe and continue the following morning.
Speaking about other matters, Ahmed said that the condition of the orientation camp is critical to the success of the orientation course which is the first cardinal programme of the scheme.
He said that apart from the fact that the camp being first pot of contact of corps members with NYSC, it goes a long way in influencing their impression about the scheme and the state of deployment.
“For these reasons, we have continued to emphasise the need for all our camps to meet the minimum standards with essential facilities such as adequate hostel accommodation, conveniences, multi-purpose hall and good parade ground amongst others.
“I am pleased to note that few states have constructed new orientation camps in recent times while several others are making impressive efforts through renovation and upgrade of existing facilities.
“On the other hand, there are still other camps that are in deplorable conditions across the country,” he said.
Ahmed appealed to the state governments to accord priority to the provision of adequate facilities in the camps to ensure the smooth conduct of the orientation course.
He also urged them to, in view of the continuous rise in corps population begin expansion of camp facilities to cater for at least 5000 corps members.
Other areas of concern are accommodation of corps members, payment of state allowance, rejection/under-utilisation of corps members by employers and reward for excellence/post-service employment for corps members.
The D-G said that the theme of the meeting: “Five Decades of National Service: Mobilising Stakeholders for Enhanced Service Delivery”, was to assess the states’ performance and draw attention to areas that require improvement.
He added that the meeting would also be an opportunity for sharing of best practices among all states and the FCT in their collective quest to deepen the impact of the scheme on the nation’s socio-economic development.(NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
Source: News Agency of Nigeria