The Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brig. Gen. Yusha’u Ahmed has assured new corps members on the ongoing orientation course of adequate security and good welfare while their services last.
He urged them to accept their postings to places of primary assignments in good faith and not to ask for redeployment.
He also urged them to ensure they contribute meaningfully to the lives of the people and communities where they will carry out their primary assignments and embrace the Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development Programme (SAED) and other activities designed by NYSC to sharpen their knowledge and skills.
He said they would need to do these and also explore all the opportunities that the NYSC programme offered so as to prepare themselves very well for the 21st century’s challenges.
The director-general gave this advice on Saturday in Lagos while addressing the 2024 Batch “B” Stream L Corps members deployed to Lagos State and undergoing a three-week orientation exercise at the state’s orientation camp in Iyana-Ipaja.
They are 4,253 in number, with 1,377 of them deployed to Osun and Ogun states for their orientation course because of inadequate space in the Lagos orientation camp, which is for temporary use.
A permanent orientation camp is under construction at Agbowa in Ikorodu.
According to the DG, every corps member is expected to do well in their places of primary assignments and host communities by impacting them positively, noting that this is the essence of their services to the country.
He urged them to be creative and come up with marketable business ideas, saying there are lots of financial institutions in the country, including the Bank of Industry, that are ready to give them zero-interest loans with flexible repayments.
He said all that is required by those banks from them as collateral is only their NYSC certificates, and that many corps members in the past had explored the opportunities and are now self-independent and even employers of labour.
The DG, however, cautioned them not to embark on journeys without permission from the NYSC management and their places of primary assignment.
He said it would be better if they could forgo avoidable journeys, but that if they must travel, they must ensure they obtain express permission from relevant quarters and avoid night journeys.
According to him, no corps member is expected to take unnecessary risks.
“So, don’t put your life in danger. Life has no duplicate. That is why it’s safer if you must travel at all to do that during the day and not at night.
“And if you are on a journey and it is getting to 6.00 pm, stop in the nearest safe community overnight and continue your journey the next morning. It is better to do that than to put yourself at unnecessary risk.”
He said all these are necessary not only because of the insecurity situation in the country to be able to track their movements but also because they are expected to give full concentration to their duties as corps members.
He said NYSC, as an organisation, would not accept truancy or absenteeism from any of them.
While assuring them that their safety is guaranteed in and outside orientation camps as the para-military organisation works closely with other security agencies, including the police, DSS, NDLEA, NSCDC, and so forth, he also urged them to dress and comport themselves well.
He, however, commended them for their display of discipline while encouraging them to keep abiding by the rules guiding their orientation exercise and the places of their primary assignments.
In her remark, the NYSC coordinator, Lagos State, Mrs Yetunde Baderinwa, commended corps members for their impressive and mature display of character since the orientation exercise commenced.
She noted that the corps members had been very cooperative with camp officials and security agencies and that all facilities to make their orientation exercise worthwhile were provided.
She also pointed out that the Lagos State government had been very supportive of NYSC activities to ensure its smooth operations, with the donation of a brand new 32-seater bus as the latest major support.
She, however, implored the corps members to continue to put maximum effort into their participation in the one-year mandatory scheme.
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