Photos ⬇ As the National Youth Service Corps celebrates it’s golden jubilee anniversary, the Federal Government has poured encomiums on the Management of the Scheme including the successive batches of Corps Members from inception of the Scheme till date.
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| Federal Government celebrates National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) at 50. Photo: @officialnyscng |
It said the giant strides recorded by the NYSC though its community development projects have contributed greatly to improve the living standard of rural dwellers across the country.
The Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo stated this today during the opening ceremony of the week-long event marking the Golden Jubilee anniversary of NYSC.
Osinbajo, whose address wad read by the Minister for Power, Engineer Abubakar Aliyu urged Nigerians to support the programmes and activities of the Scheme, especially on community and rural development.
He promised that the Federal Government would continue to accord priority to youth development through policies that will empower them not only for economic survival, but also for future leadership roles.
“Since its establishment 50 yeas ago, the story of NYSC has been that of growth, progress and expansion. It has recorded numerous achievements, including the promotion of national unity and integration as well as intervention in critical areas of our national economy such as education, agriculture, health, infrastructural development, science and technology, social and other economic sectors among others.
There is no doubt that since it’s inception 50 years ago to reconstruct, reconcile and rebuild the country after the civil war, the NYSC has continued to play a significant role in actualizing the role of building an indivisible nation”, Osinbajo said.
He lauded the General Yakubu Gowon led administration that came up with the idea of establishing the National Youth Service Corps,which was designed to harness the potentials of young, educated Nigerian graduates towards national development.
The Vice-President also noted that NYSC has continued to renew and make itself indispensable by evolving policies and programmes that have clearly identified it as a foremost institution for development in the country, describing the involvement of Corps Members as ad-hoc staff in elections since 2011 as divine intervention.
In his address at the ceremony, the Minister for Youth and Sports Development, Mr Sunday Dare said the nation witnessed remarkable ingenuity from Corps Members during the COVID-19 pandemic, where Corps Members during the lockdown engaged in the production of preventive materials such as facemasks, hand sanitizers, automated hand washing equipment, disinfectants among others, and distributed them free to complement government in the fight against the virus.
Also, the NYSC National Governing Board, Ambassador Fatima Balla Abubakar in her address stated that the deployment policy of the Scheme has birthed numerous cross regional and inter-cultural marriages among Corps Members as well as between them and members of their host communities.
The NYSC Director General, Brigadier General YD Ahmed said in discharging the NYSC mandate, the Scheme has provided inspiration for sister African countries like Gambia which it helped to establish it’s National Youth Service Scheme, modelled after the NYSC, but with a different structure and operational guidelines.
“As we step on the threshold towards the attainment of the diamond jubilee of the Scheme, we look forward to an improved working relationship with all the stakeholders in the years ahead”, he added.
National Youths Service Corps (NYSC)
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Photos: @officialnyscng
