The National Youth Service Corps, NYSC has reiterated its commitment to the welfare and security of Corps Members who will be participating as ad-hoc staff in the forthcoming 2023 general election.
The Chairman of, Governing Board of NYSC, Ambassador Fatima Abubakar stated this in Abuja, the nation’s capital while speaking with the press at the opening ceremony of the 2023 Batch ‘A’ pre-orientation workshop.
According to Mrs. Abubakar, “the NYSC has an MoU with the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC and in terms of their allowances and so on, INEC pays for it and as I said, it is the responsibility of the management to ensure that corps members are sensitised so that they know exactly what they are supposed to do during the election duties.
“The most important thing is to be neutral, that is why they are put in that exercise and then, we will do all we can to ensure that they are safe during that time because apart from what the management does in terms of telling them how to take care of themselves, we also coordinate all the other agencies, the military, the police and all security agencies and we know that all security agencies function in all the camps across the country.
“So All these agencies also come on board and make sure that Corp Members are safe during that time,” she added.
The Acting Director General of the scheme, Mrs. Christy Uba in her address expressed gratitude to the Federal Government for its unwavering faith in the scheme as demonstrated through the sustained provision of funds for the smooth conduct of the youth corps operations.
While speaking on the tremendous successes recorded by the scheme, Mrs. Uba said that there are certain operational challenges bordering on inadequate and dilapidated facilities at some orientation camps among others.
“In this regard, while thanking State Governments and the administration of the FCT for their support to the NYSC. I appeal to other State Governments who are not living up to their statutory responsibilities to the scheme to expedite action in doing so, most especially in the Development and upgrade of facilities at the orientation camps and provision of logistics for the smooth operations of the scheme.”
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Alhaji Muhammad Bello commended the efforts of the Acting Director-General of NYSC in repositioning the scheme for optimal performance by deploying a wealth of analytical skills at ensuring the realisation of the NYSC set goals.
The theme of the 2023 Batch ‘A’ pre-orientation workshop is “The NYSC Orientation Course as a Veritable Tool for Socio-Cultural and Moral Re-engineering of the Nigerian Youths”.
Dominica Nwabufo
