The Director General of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, Brigadier General Yisha’u Dogara Ahmed, has asserted that the gains of participating in the national programme cannot be quantified.
Ahmed made the assertion at the NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp, Ikare-Akoko while addressing the 2023 Batch ‘C’ (Stream II) corps members.
He listed the gains to include leadership training right from the orientation course, mentoring, human capacity building, exposure to topical national issues throughout the service year, accessibility to credible information about the nation, empowerment development programmes through the Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development, SAED, programme, varied opportunities that will open new vista of life to them, knowing the country through deployment outside one’s geopolitical zone, cultural integration and many more.
The NYSC boss who disclosed that without the objectives of the scheme, he would not have been to the Southwest geopolitical zone, described the programme as a unifier and a platform that has sustained the unity of the country.
“My patriotic Gentlemen Corps Members, NYSC has laid a solid foundation for the unity of this country and you should count yourselves lucky to have been given the privilege to participate in the programme. I did my mandatory national service in Osun State where I was posted to Iree for my primary assignment. I can tell you that the period of the service made me fall in love with the local food and I want to tell you that yam flower with ewedu and gbegiri (bean soup) remains my favourite meal till date,” he said.
“My service year is a period which prepared me for the leadership role I am occupying today and I want to admonish you to use this one year to acquire leadership skills that only NYSC can offer. The assemblage of graduate youths from different backgrounds and callings under one roof in a regimented environment is a deliberate act to make you speak with one voice always in a larger society,” he disclosed.
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The NYSC boss said that corps members are expected to eschew tribalistic tendencies, foster national unity and integration through relationships established during orientation course and indeed the service year which will ultimately ensure harmony and peaceful co-existence which the founding fathers bequeathed to the successive batches of corps members.
He advised them to be disciplined, responsible in their dealings with fellow human beings and be hardworking so that the huge investment of the scheme on them would be justified by all and sundry.
“You all have special roles to play at uniting all tribes and ethnics of this our beloved country. This cannot be achieved unless you see yourselves as being one with your brothers and sisters across the divides. You are to remain detribalised Nigerians and promote mutual understanding among one another as entrenched in the NYSC Act,” he said.
The Director General said that he had not only come to see how they were faring but to appeal to the members of the service corps to desist from engaging in unauthorised and night journeys which put them in harm’s way in case of any eventuality.
“One of the policy thrusts of my administration is to re-invigorate NYSC Ventures and Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) programme in line with the NYSC Act for greater impact and I am happy that we are doing extremely well in this direction. You have a lot to benefit from and take advantage of in the in-camp training designed to sharpen the skills that will earn you respect in the business world,” he said.
The General advised them to obey the rules and regulations guiding their stay in camp, declaring that any violation would attract stiff sanctions.
Ahmed, while calling on the corps members to appreciate the diversity of the nation disclosed that the NYSC programme is basically prepared to make them good leaders who would continue to have the love of the country at heart.
The Director General commended the State Coordinator, Mrs. Victoria Nnenna Ani for maintaining a very clean environment despite the large number of corps members on camp.
“I want to commend the State Coordinator and her team for maintaining high degree of discipline among the corps members as well as neat environment despite the population. This shows the synergy at work in NYSC Ondo State. Please keep up the good work, and to the staff, continue to support your State Coordinator so that you continue to tower above others. Congratulations for a job well done.”
The State Coordinator, Mrs. Victoria Nnenna Ani whose brief to the Director General was greeted with a loud applause and standing ovation by the corps members, informed the august visitor that the corps members had remained disciplined and committed to the implementation of the orientation course contents.
Ani thanked the Director General for the welfare of both corps members and staff since his assumption of duties in January this year.
Highlight of the visit was the cultural display by the representatives of the corps members while the Director General through Director, Special Duties, Alhaji Musa Abubakar appreciated the corps members for sustaining the core values of the scheme.
