Ondo State governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has rewarded the support his government has enjoyed from the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, in the state by extending palliatives to corps members.
Presenting the palliatives which included rice, beans, yam, eggs, vegetable oil, beverages, condiments, bread, drinks, etc, Akeredolu said that the corps members had truly displayed the true meaning of patriotism and nationalism.
“Of a truth, our administration purposed to give palliatives to the poorest of the poor in all the 18 local governments that made up the state, but the exemplary services rendered by the members of the service corps to fight the novel virus should not go unrewarded.
“I want to let you know that your patriotic service to the nation especially at the challenging times of battling to contain the spread of Coronavirus pandemic with the production and donation of antiseptic hand sanitisers and face masks to the state government, hospitals, institutions, the vulnerable and indigent people across the state is acknowledged and appreciated,” the governor sad.
Akeredolu who was represented by the Chairman, Ondo State Palliative Committee, Pastor Akinola Olotu, said that the government would not waiver in its responsibility to the scheme.
He said that the present administration in Ondo State valued the indispensability of the youths and would ensure they were encouraged to remain productive in the overall interest of the state.
The chairman, who is also the Senior Special Adviser to the Governor on Agriculture and Agricbusiness informed the elated corps members and those who witnessed the presentation that the governor was working assiduously to lay a very solid foundation for the development of the state.
“The State Government has just commissioned her industrial hub at Omotoso where engine blocks and machines would be fabricated to service the assembly plant which is the first of its kind in the Southwest geopolitical zone,” he said.
Olotu enumerated some of the achievements of the governor to include road construction, infrastructure development and opening up the state to economic transformation.
On the palliatives, the chairman said that based on the directive of Akeredolu, the state was the first in the nation to visit hospitals and give succour to the patients especially the pregnant and nursing mothers as well as sick and recuperating ones.
Speaking shortly before the donation, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Youth and Students Affairs, Muyiwa Ogunyemi Eyiyato, thanked Akeredolu and the good people of Ondo State for the kind gesture.
Eyitayo asserted that the present government had done more for the youths and students than the previous regimes in the state.
In her brief remarks, the NYSC State Coordinator, Mrs. Grace Akpabio, said that she was not surprised at the kind gesture of the governor because he had proved to be a purposeful and dynamic administrator since he took over the mantle of leadership in the state three years ago.
Akpabio said the positive disposition of the governor towards NYSC facilitated the construction of perimeter fence round the Permanent Orientation Camp Ikare-Akoko and that had warded off those who encroached on the land.
Akpabio said that the governor released substantial amount of money to the scheme last year as a state subvention which had been stopped long before he became the governor.
She thanked the chairman and members of the palliative committee for accommodating and factoring in the corps members into their plans.
The representative of the corps members, Onyenwe Obumnene, described Akeredolu as a loving and caring father to the members of the service corps.
He prayed that God wold grant him wisdom to pilot the affairs of the state to safe haven and lead the citizens to the promised land.
