NYSC DG urges states , local councils to support 78,000 participants
Ene Ikpa
From the Director General National Youth Service Corps.(NYSC), Brigadier General Shuaibu Ibrahim come the disclosure that no fewer than 4, 644,804 graduates have participated in the scheme since it was instituted on the 22nd May 1973.
Ibrahim who spoke to reporters in Abuja expressed satisfaction with the performance of the corps members in the scheme aimed at fostering national unity and integration among Nigerians.
Ibrahim maintained that the scheme has surely afforded participants the opportunity to have a broader understanding of the country with a first hand experience in the sociocultural peculiarities of their host communities.
The NYSC chief justified the resolve by the scheme to establish skill acquisition and entrepreneurship development centres saying it was aimed at empowering corps members to survive the prevailing unemployment situation in the country.
Reiterating the resolve by the NYSC to ensure the wellbeing of corps members deployed to the 36 States of the country, he expressed concern that the states and the 774 local government areas of the country have not lived up to the expectations of catering for corps members in their domain.
According to him: “The consequence of this attitude is most glaring in the limited capacity and quality of facilities in many orientation camps across the country and inability of the scheme to accommodate more than seventy eight thousand (78,000) prospective corps members in one orientation course.
“We have embarked on advocacy visits to state Governments to appeal for the renovation and upgrade of orientation camp facilities ,but the response is still not encouraging in many states.
“I therefore use this medium to renew our appeal to the states and local Governments, which are not living up their statutory responsibilities,to reconsider their stance and support the scheme.”
