Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi has called on the House of Representatives to expedite action on the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) trust fund bill currently before it, saying when passed would help in no small measure in the transformation of the scheme.
The NYSC Trust fund bill which has passed the second reading in the green chamber is expected to be subjected to a public hearing next week Thursday in Abuja.
The governor who spoke in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital on Thursday during the passing-out parade of 1,705 corps members for the 2021 batch ‘A’ stream 1 noted that the bill when passed and assented to by the president would help the scheme to achieve the lofty ideals of helping Nigerian youths to be adequately employed.
Represented by the commissioner for youths and sports, Michael Awopetu, the governor advised other state governors to support the scheme and the bill in a bid to improve the socio-economic development of the country through massive youth empowerment.
While saying the scheme has prepared the corps members for the next stage in life which he said is full of opportunities and challenges, advised them to be agents of change in contributing their quota for the nation to overcome the myriad of challenges, ” which are fast becoming the bane of our society.”
According to him, “I want to urge the National Assembly to as a matter of urgency expedite action on the NYSC Trust fund bill before them, which is expected to help in transforming the scheme for optimum performance and achieving the lofty ideals of the founding fathers.
“As the chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, I will call on my colleagues to support the NYSC scheme and the bill so that our corps members can be fully empowered and equipped.”
Speaking, the NYSC coordinator in Ekiti state, Mrs Mary Chikezie who congratulated the corps members for the successful completion of the mandatory one year service, advised them to deploy all skills and knowledge gained to better their life.
He revealed that 50 corps members who had been involved in unpatriotic acts such as absenteeism have been punished with an extension of their service year to serve as a deterrent to others in the scheme.
“It is common knowledge that many youths have been caught in the web of economic, political and social crimes. You will be disappointing all expectations as ex-corps members if, after today, you are found treading the path of crime and corruption on the matter of the temptation, ” she said.
The coordinator explained that the NYSC trust fund bill when passed would assist the operations of the scheme in addressing the challenges being faced by corps members during and after their mandatory service to the nation.
She called on the lawmakers and other stakeholders to approve the bill which she said would assist the corps members with start-up funds which they would deploy on their entrepreneurship skills learned during the service year.
According to her, “The bill which has passed through the second reading if passed into law, the NYSC and the Nigerian youth will benefit. Firstly, we will no longer be going cap in hands asking for funds from state governments and stakeholders, we will be funding our different projects, our accounts will now be maintained, we will now be able to give start-up capital to our youths who are trained in camp.
“We know that unemployment is a major problem in this country, it has a lot of negative multiplier effects, it has led to all kinds of criminalities, insecurity, internet fraud and the rest; when these youths are trained in the camp, we exposed them to skill acquisition and entrepreneurship development techniques, after camping, they continue with post-camp training, at the end of the service, the problem now – where is the capital with which they start up their small businesses? These are the questions they had been throwing to us from time, if we now have this bill assented to by the president, of course, our problems are solved.”
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