Change the narrative of this country by giving your services diligently, Ondo State Coordinator of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, Mrs. Grace Akpabio, has challenged the corps members posted to the state.
She said serving diligently would change the bad perception of the outside world about the country.
Akpabio gave the challenge during the flagging off of lecture series for the 2019 Batch ‘B’ (Stream 1) corps members currently undergoing their orientation at the Permanent Orientation Camp, Ikare-Akoko.
Speaking on the overview of the NYSC scheme, Akpabio said that the country needed the genuine services of members of the corps members to make the desired change the country had been clamouring for over the years.
Her words: “As a responsible national and laudable scheme, the NYSC has since inception 46 years ago engage in training the graduate youths to be exceptional leaders and role models in the society.
“Your mobilisation and subsequent deployment for the mandatory one year service should not be seen as a national cake but rather a sacrifice to make the country a better place for this generation and generations yet unborn.”
The coordinator, while tracing the historical background of the scheme, said the principal purpose had been to “inculcate in the Nigerian youth, the spirit of selfless service to the nation and to emphasise the spirit of oneness and brotherhood of all Nigerians irrespective of cultural, social background and to promote national unity and development.”
According to the NYSC boss, the programme was established as a deliberate public policy to ensure the realisation of the Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction introduced by the Federal Government under General Yakubu Gowon (retd) after the Nigerian Civil War.
“The scheme aimed to raise a new crop of disciplined and detribalised Nigerians by allowing the youths to undergo national service in states other than their own for the purpose of national development and integration,” she said.
Akpabio said that the scheme was established with the view to promoting peace and encouraging mutual understanding of the common ties among Nigerian youths, which she said, fostered national unity.
She advised the corps members to take to heart all the lectures in the camp as that would, according to her, come handy and useful during the service year.
