The Chairman, Ondo State National Youth Service, NYSC, Governing Board, Otunba Bamidele Ologun, has extolled the ingenuity of the federal government in establishing the NYSC.
Ologun, who doubles as the Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development in Ondo State gave the applause in his address during the NYSC Corps Employers Workshop held at Aquinas College, Akure.
While acknowledging the immense contributions of the NYSC management, the chairman asserted that the solid foundation laid by the founding fathers of the scheme was responsible for the great accomplishments the leading youth organisation in Africa had achieved in its 50 years of existence.
“The magnanimity of the federal government to establish and sustain this legacy is indeed a blessing to the nation and I want to admonish our distinguished participants to continue to keep faith with the lofty ideas of this laudable scheme which has recorded tremendous achievements in her 50 years of establishment,” he said.
The commissioner disclosed that the scheme had to a large extent contributed in no small measure to the overall development that permeated all the facets of human endeavours in the country.
Speaking on the theme of the workshop which is ‘Optimising the Productivity of Corps Members through Enhanced Welfare and Security during the Service Year’, the Ologun said that the programme could not have come at a better time than now as productivity of corps members needed to be rejigged whereunto it had suffered as a result of lack of motivation and encouragement from corps employers.
“Let me inform you that what we are witnessing today has made everyone unwilling to do the right thing, and the situation has gone bad to the level where Corps Employers and the major component of the scheme- the corps members – have compromised the standards and are no longer working in realisation of the vision of the founding fathers.”
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He charged them to eschew all sentiments during the workshop and come up with solutions which were scientifically achievable, rather than theoretical postulations that were only good for academic exercise.
Ologun declared that the event was meant to holistically look at the several hindrances that had made productivity very low on the part of corps members and various ways and steps the Corps Employers must take to address the ugly trend which had on several occasions pitched NYSC management against Corps Employers.
He implored the Corps Employers to do more for the graduate youths posted to their respective organisations so as to continue enjoy the best services from them.
In his keynote address, the NYSC Director General, Brigadier General Yishau Dogara Ahmed, said that the management came up with the theme of the workshop having realised the challenges confronting the corps members at their various places of primary assignment in attaining optimal productivity.
The Director General specifically charged the convocation to come up with enduring solutions to some of the challenges which included but not limited to rapid decline in welfare provisions for corps members; constant threats to corps members’ security; connivance of employers with corps members to play truancy; dwindling support for corps members’ community development projects and knowledge gap in the NYSC policies and rules by employers to mention but a few.
The NYSC boss who was represented by the Deputy Director in charge of Staff Welfare at the NYSC Southwest Area Office, Mr. Ifeanyi Ezeajugwu charged the participants to let their recommendations and resolutions proved to be collectively positioned to advance the course of NYSC scheme and the general welfare and security of corps members in enabling them perform optimally.
Earlier in her opening address, the State Coordinator, Mrs. Victoria Nnenna Ani, disclosed that the NYSC scheme had pushed the country on a global scale since it was established some 50 years ago.
“The scheme puts the nation first while leveraging the vision of the founding fathers to ensure that Nigerian graduate youths are given access to leadership positions in other for them to actualise their potentials and be at par with their contemporaries all over the world,” she said.
The State Coordinator asserted that the priority attention the managers and corps members of the scheme gave to the nation was responsible for the national development prominent in critical sectors of the economy which had the signatures and identity of the committed and patriotic Nigerians under the auspices of the National Youth Service Corps.
The NYSC Ondo State boss eulogised the unwavering support received from the state government under the leadership of Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu, whose leadership acumen, she said, had improved the rating of Ondo State.
