The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Corps members

  • Omoni Oboli rewards corps members on election duty with N10K each

    Nollywood actress and producer Omoni Oboli has promised to reward six corps members who manned her polling unit in Victoria Garden City, Lagos on Saturday with the sum of ten thousand naira each.

    Sharing a picture she took with the corps members on her Instagram account, Oboli praised the corps members’ dedication to their work.

    “Our tired faces!,” wrote the thespian who arrived early to organise voters.

    “We finished so late yesterday or should I say this morning. These corpers worked tirelessly. Ahh!!! God bless you guys. I got to my polling station before 6am and got home at past 1am. It was a long tough day but we persevered.”

    “We thank God for the ability to serve our nation. Well done to everyone. We voted and defended our votes!

    “PS: If you are in this picture, kindly dm me. I owe you 10k#GodBlessNigeria#NigeriaDecides2019.”

    The 40 year mother of three has produced movies such as Fatal Imagination, Being Mrs Elliot, The First Lady and Wives On Strike.

     

     

  • How we were dumped in schools, by Corps members

    SOME members of the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) have called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to put adequate logistics in place, ahead of Saturday’s elections.

    The Corps members lamented lack of security, inadequate transportation and poor communication channel between them and the INEC officials.

    They noted that they slept in the open fields, on bare floor and benches with election materials without security presence before the commission announced the elections’ rescheduling.

    It was gathered that in some of the schools, the NYSC members were posted to, the schools’ gatemen were not aware they were coming. It was also learnt that the corps members were alone in most of the schools overnight without policemen to provide security.

    Many of the Corps members also lamented that they were at least expecting dinner to be served, mattresses and mosquito nets from INEC because they were told that they would be taken care of, but they got nothing.

    A Corps member, Princess Ukaps, told The Nation that she and some of her colleagues were at the INEC office around 4pm last Friday. She said they were there to check the names of their polling units and supervisors.

    “After waiting endlessly, we moved to the primary school we were posted to and we got there few minutes to 9pm. We were there hoping that INEC officials would come and address us. We also hoped they would give us food, mattresses and may be mosquito nets because we were told that we would be taken care of.

    “To our surprise, we waited endlessly and later went to look for food and drinks. I had to take my bath at the back of one of the classrooms in the school that night, because I can never sleep without taking my bath. It was one woman in the school that gave me bucket and water. I slept on a bench in one of the classrooms, but mosquitoes bite me seriously. Some slept on the floor in the classrooms. I learnt that at some other schools, the gatemen did not open the gates for the corps members and many had to sleep inside buses and on the floor on the road sides. The experience was pathetic.”

    Ukaps added that around 1a.m., some policemen came to the school with the election papers and were already bringing them out of the vehicle.

    She noted that after some of the corps members learnt that the elections were cancelled around 2a.m., the police immediately packed the materials and left the school before 3a.m.

    Ukaps added that even though she had a negative experience, she would still be available for the elections whenever INEC is ready.

    Another Corps member, who simply identified himself as Chinedu, who was attached to a local government on the Lagos Mainland, said the way many of them were treated last Friday was inhuman and uncalled for.

    “INEC made us feel less of a human being. We were left to sleep in an open space and no one catered for us; no one communicated with us. When I and some of my friends got to the primary school we were posted to, we were expecting some of the INEC officials to come to the school for our final training. They told us at the previous trainings they had with us that they were would come to our polling units to give us final training on the election materials, card readers and all, but no one showed up. We all slept in an open space.

    “I am currently not feeling fine because of the cold I was exposed to and I am on treatment. Mosquitoes also bite me like seriously.”

    Chinedu lamented that he saw no security official in the school compound.

    “At a point, in the middle of the night, we heard footsteps, everybody ran away. I also ran and that there was no one there to actually secure us,” he said.

    He said many of them could not leave the school when they discovered around 2a.m. that the elections were already rescheduled.

    “If I am to tell you, I will not go to the polling unit next week or any other election, because INEC did not treat us the way they should treat us. Should I die because I am serving Nigeria? May be they should increase the compensation they give to corps members during elections, probably that will motivate more people to participate. But left to me, compensation or no compensation, I will not be part of it again. Imagine what will have happened if any corps member had asthmatic attack in the open space we all slept, all because we are serving our country,” he said.

    Another Corps member, who craved anonymity, said she was posted to a primary school on Lagos Island and her experience was not different from others.

  • Drama as hoodlums strip corps members naked

    TWO female members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) serving in Ebonyi State have become the latest victims of the pants-for rituals menace ravaging sections of the country.

    The two corps members, it was gathered, were forced by some yet-to-be-identified unidentified hoodlums to remove their clothes, including their pants and hand them over to them (hoodlums). One of the corps members, who was on her period, had her blood socked pants and sanitary pads taken away by the hoodlums.

    The incident, it was further learnt, happened at Oshiegbe community, near the boundary between Ohaukwu and Ezza North council area of   the state. Police spokesman in the state, Loveth Odah confirmed the incident. She said: “On 5th of February, 2019, Female corps members reported to Divisional Headquarters in Ohaukwu council area to report that on their way coming from Ezillo in Ishielu council area to Abakaliki, a jeep stopped in front of them and asked them to pay N200 each to be conveyed to Abakaliki.

    They entered”. According to the spokesman, on reaching 135 Junction, at Ezzamgbo, the men diverted to another direction and told them that they wanted to pick something from a teacher at St. Michael Secondary School, Ezzamgbo. “When they got to Os hiegbe community, at the boundary area between Ohaukwu and Ezza North council areas, the driver stopped and came down”. “He told them that he wanted to ease himself. He immediately went to the back door, opened the door and pointed a gun them; ordering them to come down and give them all their cloths including their pants.

    The spokesman said that one of the corps members shed tears when she remembered that she was in her period. “They collected their pants and her sanitary pad and drove off. Before driving off, they collected their phones and smashed them on the spot”. “We also learnt that when they meet women who are not wearing pants, they give them pants and force them to wear them for about five minutes before taking them away from their victims”, Odah said. She urged travellers to always go to designated motor parks to board vehicles whenever they are traveling to avoid such attacks.

  • INEC trains 2,641 corps members in Adamawa

    Special election officiating training has started for the 2,641 corps members mobilized in Adamawa State for the coming elections by the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). The corps members are to work as ad-hoc staff of the INEC during the elections. The training is meant to acquaint the corps members with the rudiments of what they would be expected to do.

    The Director-General of the NYSC, Major-General Sule Zakari Kazaure, who addressed the corp members at the Yola North and Yola South training centres yesterday, through the Adamawa State Coordinator of the NYSC, Malam Abubakar Muhammed, reminded them that they are preferred by INEC as presiding officers at polling centres because they are mostly Nigerians from different states who are supposed to be neutral in the politics of the state.

    “You are supposed to be neutral, without sympathy or obligation to any political actors here. Work true to this expectation and do not allow anybody to use you for any self-serving purpose,” Kazaure said, urging them to take the best advantage of the training to master the rules and modes of elections and all that they would be needing to do so that they could work with efficiency.

    “We will be expecting you to work with knowledge, so that no unscrupulous politician, party agent or anybody for that matter would take advantage of you. Know what you need to know and be an authority in your work. Take charge, but know your limits and be humble especially with those who will work with you,” the NYSC boss aded.

  • NYSC DG charges corps members to sustain reading culture 

    The Director General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brig. Gen. Sulaiman Kazaure has stressed the need for corps members to sustain the habit of reading even after graduation from their various institutions of higher learning.

    Kazaure, who was in Cross River State as part of his nationwide tour of orientation camps for the ongoing 2018 Batch ‘C’, stream 1 orientation course, said this was imperative for them to continue to improve themselves.

    The DG who was represented by the Ag Director, Corps Welfare and Inspection, National Directorate, Abuja, Mr. Abdulrasheed Sanusi, who visited the NYSC permanent orientation camp, Obubra local government area urged the Corps members to always be inquisitive.

    He said every camp activity is scheduled to imbue and communicate healthy attitudes to every Corps Member that will help them becomes better citizens.

    The NYSC State Coordinator, Mr. Adegoke Adewale said the camp environment has been peaceful since it was officially opened on October 23 with a total of 2013 corps members comprising of 1021 males and 992 females.

    The State Coordinator appreciated the staff and collaborating agencies for their support so far since the commencement of the orientation course exercise.

  • 2019: Bayelsa trains corps members on violent-free elections 

    The Bayelsa State Ministry of Information and Orientation has commenced a two-day specialized training for new members of the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) on violent-free elections in 2019.

    The training was designed to cover strategic public engagement, civic enlightenment and new media campaign on the need for voters in the state to elect the right leaders during the election.

    The training also involved modalities of  conveying messages on the effect of violence during elections and the importance of a peaceful electoral process.

    Inaugurating the training in Yenagoa, the Commissioner in the Ministry, Daniel Iworiso-Markson said it became important to raise the level of awareness on the need to elect credible people that would help sustain the legacies of the present administration.

    He explained that Bayelsa could not afford to go through another path of retrogression adding that the people must be wise in their choice of representatives in the state and National Assembly.

    The commissioner further explained that part of the problem that bedevilled the state in the past was the inability of persons elected to work together to bring development because of parochial interest and unnecessary political mudslinging.

    He said: “The conversation on the performance of the Restoration Government and the huge investment it has made in key sectors should be brought to the fore, to remind Bayelsans that all of it will be wasted without having people who share the same vision of the new Bayelsa.

    “Everything needs to be done to avoid a repeat of what characterized the last general elections that claimed several  innocent lives and loss of properties”.

    Iworiso-Markson disclosed that at the end of the training, the corp members would be exposed to basic tools in political communication.

    He said they would be integrated into the ministry’s new media team to enable them unleash what they have been taught via the social media.

    While urging the corp members who are mainly from Batch B Stream 1, to see the training exercise as a great opportunity to enhance their capacity, Iworiso-Markson added that they would find it useful even after their service year.

     

  • Buhari pledges to assist visually-impaired Corps Member

    President Muhammadu Buhari has promised to fund the cost of medical treatment of a 28 year old serving member of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Okenala Ahmed who is visually-impaired.

    Ahmed, a graduate of Insurance from the Federal Polytechnic Offa, Kwara State, is undergoing his service year in Daura, Katsina State.

    According to a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, Ahmed was among the Corps members who paid Sallah homage to President Buhari on Tuesday in Daura, as part of activities to mark the Eid-El-Kabir celebrations.

    He said “In the course of the President’s interaction with the Corps members, the Corps Liaison Officer (CLO), Jibrin Ishak, had appealed for assistance for their physically challenged member.

    Read Also: Buhari fit to contest in 2019, says Presidency

    “According to the CLO, the indigent Corps member, who is from Offa, Kwara State, had earlier contemplated redeployment from Katsina State due to his health condition.

    “President Buhari will undertake the cost of medical care and treatment of Ahmed, who is an Economics NYSC teacher at Government Day Senior Secondary School, Daura.” it s

  • Honour for three corps members

    Recognition came the way of three corps members who served in 2017 Batch A Stream 1 on Monday when the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) rewarded them with state awards

    The trio of Mr Chukwuka Amadioha, Dr Ann Agbakoba, and Miss Fatimah Baw-Allah were presented with certificates and cheques of N200,000 each for embarking on farming projects/recycling projects in schools, establishment of a child-care centre/renovation of toilets, and donation of classroom furniture.

    The presentation was done by the Commissioner for Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Relations, Mr Oluseye Oladejo, on behalf of the Lagos State NYSC Coordinator, Prince Mohammed Momoh, during the closing ceremony of the orientation programme for 2018 Batch B Stream 1 corps members at the NYSC Orientation camp, Iyana Ipaja on Monday.

    Amadioha, who served at Touch Core Tech, Lekki, spent his spare time teaching pupils of Ogombo Junior Secondary School and Lagos State Model College, Badore to farm and recycle waste.  He also donated education materials to the two schools.

    “During the orientation camp period we were exposed to different community development services based on the Sustainabilty Development Goals.  The CDS group taught me a lot of things about what I can do; how I can enter the society.  I am also practicing vegetable production.  It helped me design my project based on that.

    “Most of the students know about vegetable production; how to collect their waste and recycle it, and also some educational books I gave them would help them sustain themselves even outside the school as individuals,” said the graduate of Petroleum Engineering from the University of Aberdeen.

    On her part, Dr Agbakoba’s project, Smart Start Project (SSP) was inspired by a similar programme in the United Kingdom, Sure Start, and the concern for nursing mothers who sought medical advice for non-medical issues.

    “My project was titled Smart Start Project.  It was a centre for mothers and children.  I was inspired to do this because I felt that mothers, especially nursing mums, need something like that because I have been exposed to attend a kind of programme like that in the UK. It is called Sure Start.  Mothers go there to play with their children.  A lot of other health benefits it has.  When I came here I said let me think of a way I could do something with the available technology even though not as elaborate as it is over there but start somewhere and see where it gets to. So I said let me just make it unstructured play.

    “Where I was practicing, a lot of mothers who had new babies came.  Some of the problems they had were not medical problems but may problems of being lonely, feeling kind of depressed after a child. So I felt if they had something like this, the frequaent, unnecessary visits to the hospital,” she said.

    The third recipient, Ms Bawa Allah, a graduate of International Relations from the Houdegbe North American University, Benin Republic, donated a set of 40 classroom furniture to Gbaja Girls’ High School, Surulere.

    Momoh praised their efforts and urged the new set of corps members to leave legacies behind as well.

    “Ensure you are a role model worthy of emulation wherever you undergo your primary assignment.  Endeavour to leave legacies behind wherever you find yourselves.  Be a trailblazer and go-getter,” he said.

  • NYSC DG allays corps members’ fears ahead 2019 election

    The Director General, National Youth Service Corps ( NYSC ), Brig. Gen. Sule Zakari Kazaura, on Monday, assured corps members serving in Anambra State of adequate security ahead of next year’s general elections.

    He said the Scheme was liaising with all security agencies in the state to guarantee maximum security of the corps members.

    Kazaura who gave the assurance at the orientation camp in Umunya, Oyi local government area of the state, said the organization was also working with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure corps members carry out the national assignment unhindered.

    “We are in touch with all the relevant security agencies to ensure corps members’ security is guaranteed. We’re also in an MOU with INEC. With these, I don’t envisage any problems,” he assured.

    Read Also: ‘Corps members will not be posted to volatile areas in Plateau’

    Kazaura who was in the state for inspection of camp facilities, expressed satisfaction with the sanitary conditions of the facilities, however said trip to the state was also to meet with the government over the speedy completion of the permanent orientation camp.

    He noted that the post-service skill acquisition training which had posed a challenge to the scheme, would soon be history with the establishment of skill acquisition centres across the six geopolitical zones in the country.

    Underscoring the place of security consciousness and decent dressing among the corps members, particularly the female folks, the DG charged them to avoid unnecessary trips and to respect the culture and tradition of their host communities.

    Earlier, the State coordinator, Aremu Kehinde, expressed optimism that the corps members would tap into the entrepreneurial spirit the average citizen of the state was known for to become self reliant after service.

  • ‘Corps members will not be posted to volatile areas in Plateau’

    No member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), serving in Plateau would be posted to crises-ridden areas, Mr Abdulsalam Alhassan, the state’s coordinator, has said.

    Alhassan told newsmen on Monday in Mangu that the measure became necessary to ensure that no corps member became a victim of attacks on rural communities.

    “In our bid to protect the corps members, we have resolved that no one will be posted to volatile areas.

    “We have also resolved that corps members will only be posted to local governments considered safe and reachable.

    “We are working closely with the Department of State Security Service; we have requested clarifications in respect of areas considered safe ahead of the postings after the ongoing orientation exercise,” he said.

    He said that most of the postings would be restricted to local government headquarters to ease access to corps members, if the need arose.

    Read Also: NYSC to corps members: be self-reliant

    “Aside volatile areas, we shall not post corps members to villages that are not accessible because we need to keep in constant touch with them throughout the service year,” he said.

    He said that corps members serving in Bokkos, Barkin-Ladi, Mangu, Riyom and parts of Jos South Local Governments were evacuated to safety during the various attacks that hit those areas in June.

    “We later deployed the corps members to areas considered safer,” he said.

    Alhassan said that NYSC was collaborating with various security agencies to keep constant surveillance on corps members’ lodges across the state.

    The coordinator assured parents and guidance, whose children and wards are serving in Plateau, of the safety of the corps members, and thanked the state government for the steady support in that regard.