The Nation Newspaper

Tag: National Youth Service Corps (NYSC)

  • Bayelsa elders to Dickson: Don’t let criticisms distract you

    Bayelsa elders to Dickson: Don’t let criticisms distract you

    Elders from the local government areas in Bayelsa State, Monday, urged the state Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, to remain focus in his approach to development.

    The elders under the auspices of Forum of Restoration Caucus Chairmen (FRCC) insisted that the governor should overlook destructive criticisms and work with quality advice from well-meaning individuals.

    The elders said before advising the governor, they had taken time to tour all the ongoing and completed projects initiated by the governor in the eight local government areas of the state.

    In a statement issued in Yenagoa, the state capital, they said they were satisfied with the developmental strides of Dickson including his “massive investment in agriculture”.

    In the statement signed by the restoration caucus chairmen in the eight local government areas, the elders said they were excited with Dickson’s robust leadership and his achievements in the educational sector in line with his state of emergency in the sector.

    The statement was signed by the Leader of the Forum and Ekeremor Caucus Chairman, Chief T.K.O Okorotie; His Royal Highness Serena Dokubo, Brass; Talford Ongolo, Southern Ijaw and Dr. George Fente, Nembe.

    Others are Chief Godwin Odumgba, Yenagoa; Chief Francis Duokpola, Sagbama; Mr. Isaac Kumokou, Kolokuma/Opokuma and Chief George Okrinya, Ogbia.

    While commending the educational strides of the governor, the elders appealed to the state government to complete ongoing projects in the Jasper Isaac Boro College of Education to cater for increasing school population.

    They appreciated the governor for prudently managing the state’s lean resources saying it accounted for the execution of many developmental projects in the state.

    The elders said: “We urge the governor to continue on this path for the government to achieve more. We also urge all contractors handling state and federal projects in the state to use quality materials and to keep to the timelines contained in their contract agreements.

    “We observed the appreciable stability of the polity in the state with the specific reference to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and advise members of the party to be steadfast as we look forward to the eventual resolution of the party’s crisis.

    “This resolution is actively pursued by the PDP National Peace and Reconciliation Committed headed by Governor Seriake Dickson and other stakeholders across the country”.

    In their appraisal of all the projects in the eight local government areas, the elders said that there was hope that road would get to Ekeremor before the end of the year.

    They observed that in Brass, government was taking steps to partner with the Federal Government to actualise the abandoned Brass LNG project.

    In Kolokuma/Opokuma, they commended the government for completing the Ijaw National Academy and admitting 1000 students.

    “The befitting permanent camp for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has been put to use. Also completed is the skills acquisition centre in Kolokuma/Opokuma”, they said.

     

  • Slain engineering graduate not NYSC member – Police

    Slain engineering graduate not NYSC member – Police

    The Bayelsa State Police Command, Thursday, clarified that the 31-year-old engineering graduate, Samuel Collins, killed in Yenagoa, the state capital, was not a member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

    Unidentified gunmen, at the weekend, killed Collins, a graduate of Engineering from the University of Benin, Edo State, in cold blood and robbed him of his money and other valuables.

    The incident, which caused panic among the residents, occurred on Saturday evening along Melford Okilo Road, INEC/Kpansia area of Yenagoa.

    Collins was accosted by the hoodlums at INEC Road junction while on his way to the office of the Nigerian Content Development and Management Board (NCDMB) on Isaac Boro Expressway, where he was said to be undergoing training.

    Sources said the victim was shot and killed by the hoodlums, who were angry that he was dragging his phones and other valuables with them.

    A source, who spoke in confidence, said Collins was shot on his ahead at a close range adding that the bullet pierced through his head and damaged his brain.

    But the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in a statement insisted that Collins was not a corps member as erroneously reported in some quarters.

    The statement said: “The attention of Bayelsa State Police Command has been drawn to an erroneous publication about the dead of one Samuel Collins, who was shot by unknown gunmen at Kpansia Community, Yenagoa.

    “On 24 June, 2017 at 2130 hours, policemen responded to a distress call of cult activities at Kpansia, Yenagoa. The policemen responded swiftly and on arrival met a young man in a pool of blood.

    “The young man was later identified as one Samuel Collins ‘m’ 31 years, a third party security operative of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board(NCDMB), Who was undergoing a training programme at Port Harcourt and came to Yenagoa for the holidays.

    “The deceased was not an NYSC member as erroneously captured in some headlines.

    “Eyewitness account revealed that the unknown gunmen were cultist, based on their utterances before they shot the victim.

    “We have gathered useful information on the identity of the suspects. Efforts have been intensified to arrest the fleeing suspects. Investigation is ongoing”.

     

  • Kano pledges to upgrade NYSC orientation camp in Karaye

    Kano pledges to upgrade NYSC orientation camp in Karaye

    The Kano State Government  has pledged to upgrade the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation camp located in Karaye Local Government Area of the state.

    Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje made the pledge during the closing ceremony of a three-week orientation for the Batch ‘A’ stream II at Kusalla town on Monday.

    Ganduje, who was represented by the state’s Commissioner for Information, Youths, Sports and Culture, Comrade Mohammed Garba, particularly said the government would increase the accommodation capacity of the camp from 2,500 to 5,000.

    “The state government has awarded contracts for upgrade of all the facilities in the camp and the renovation of both the male and the female hostels,’’ he said.

    He assured all the corps members of their security and appealed to them to cooperate with their host communities.

    “Government has resuscitated and increased the State-Allowances to N5,000 monthly in government agencies, parastatals, and in the 44 Local Government Areas,’’ he added.

    The governor enjoined the corps members to be patriotic and to render selfless service to the communities where they would be posted to on primary assignment.

    He said the government placed high premium on them as change agents and as drivers of the state’s development policies.

    Earlier, the NYSC Coordinator in Kano, Alhaji Ladan Baba, had applauded the state government for agreeing to upgrade the camp.

    According to him, the camp, the camp has facilities and land vast enough to accommodate more than 5, 000 persons.

    He advised the corps members to contribute their quota towards the development of the state by initiating projects that could impact positively on the lives of people in their host communities.

    Baba further urged them to shun all forms of acts capable of jeopardising the harmonious relationship between them and their host communities.

  • NYSC calls for more investment in skills training for youths

    NYSC calls for more investment in skills training for youths

    Mr Abdulrazak Salawu, FCT Coordinator, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), on Saturday called for more investment in skills training in order to reduce unemployment among youths.

    Salawu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that skills training would also propel the nation towards sustainable growth and development.

    The coordinator was speaking on the side lines of the opening of the NYSC Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) programme for the 2017 Batch ‘A’ corps members.

    The programme, which held at the permanent orientation camp, Kubwa, was aimed at introducing new corps members on the SAED.

    “The Federal Government spends a lot every year to mobilise corps members for the one-year national service and this shows great commitment to invest in the youth and the future of the nation.

    “There is, however, the need to do more; government should take a step further by doubling its current investment in SAED.

    “Many developed nations got to where they are today because they invested in their youths.

    “We need to do more for our youths by training and re-training them on skills acquisition,’’ the coordinator said.

    According to him, SAED would encourage youths to be self-employed, self-sufficient and eventually become employers of labour.

    NAN reports that SAED was introduced by the NYSC in 2012 to complement the Federal Government youth’s employment strategies.

    The programme trains corps members on skills like cosmetology, power and energy, horticulture, culture and tourism, construction, food processing, agro-allied and ICT among others.

    After training, beneficiaries receive loans from the Central Bank of Nigeria, Bank of Industry, NYSC Foundation and other financial institutions to start businesses.

  • Make skills training compulsory for corps members – NYSC

    Make skills training compulsory for corps members – NYSC

    The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has urged the Federal Government to make its Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) compulsory for all corps members in the country.

    Mrs Chinyere Ekwe, Head of SAED in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) office of NYSC, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Saturday.

    She said that making the training compulsory to all corps members would increase the number of youths trained in various skills targeted at growth and development of the nation.

    Ekwe explained that SAED was introduced by the scheme to enable corps members to learn and develop one or more skills for self-reliance.

    According to her, the initiative was introduced to support Federal Government’s efforts at addressing unemployment in the country, but presently, it is not compulsory for the corps members.

    “This defeats the aim of introducing the programme, because if more youths participate in skills training, more youths will become self-employed, self-reliant and employers of labour

    “If more youths are trained, they will in turn train many others, but in a situation where this programme is not compulsory for them, you find that a lot of them may show lackadaisical attitude towards it.

    “I also think that there is need to reduce the training fee to a minimal rate so that more corps members can participate.

    “The FCT Coordinator, Mr Salawu Abdulrazak, has tried to bring down the training fee to N10, 000 for six-month training and for corps members can to pay in installments.

    “If more is done to support the corps members by bringing down the fee, it will encourage more of them to join,” Ekwe said.

    She also urged the government to support the scheme with provision of materials, saying that training large number of corps members yearly in various skills without materials was a major challenge to the scheme.

    According to her, right now in the camp, hands-on training is free, but there are no materials for corps members to use in the training. We also do not have well-equipped skills centres in the area councils.

    Ekwe commended the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) for its effort in providing an ICT center at the orientation camp for training of corps members.

    She urged serving corps members to make use of the opportunity to learn one or more skills in order to become skillful, self-reliant and productive.

    She said that emphasis on certificate was waning in Nigeria, adding that it was therefore why learning a skill or more had become necessary.

    “You will be empowering yourself and other youths by doing this”.

    The NYSC official said that many corps members who had passed through the programme had established businesses, adding that SAED’s partners had also continued to support corps members with start-up capital.

    She said that partners like Bank of Industry (BoI) gave corps members loan as much as N2 million, while the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) also had a loan scheme that could give N3 million to a corps member.

  • FG to recruit NYSC members as anti-malaria taskforce

    FG to recruit NYSC members as anti-malaria taskforce

    The Federal Government is to engage the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members as advocates against malaria infection.

    Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Jibril, at the launch of National Mosquito Control and Liquid Waste Management Programme, yesterday in Abuja said that the recruited members will serve in the capacity of the defunct War Against Indiscipline (WAI).

    He disclosed in Abuja that the ministry may partner with State governments to also register community health officers in Public Health Departments in the 774 local governments, to eliminate the breeding places of mosquitoes and reducing incidences of malaria parasites across the country.

    The Minister condemned increasing rate of malaria infection as a result of poor environmental sanitation, stressing that it was becoming worrisome as it contributed to high child and maternal mortality.

    Jubril said: “I remember in my days as a youth corper, we were in the WAI brigade and now I can see people (NYSC) that we can recruit for the anti-malaria brigade. This is worth commending because it is of serious health concern.

    “In the 1960s, 70s, we had the privilege of having the wole-woles… so the federal ministry of environment in partnership andelsta limited has decided to re-launch this programme with the sole objective of achieving a clean and green environment, free of mosquitoes and other diseases in the country.

    “We know of the menace of malaria vectors causing diseases in the country as well as poor management of the environment in rural, semi-rural and urban areas that constitute serious threat to human health.”

    However, he said the responsibility to maintain a healthy environment should be collective and participatory as the ministry cannot solely perform the public sanitary functions.

    According to him, there was the need for partnership with the public and private sector in the campaign against malaria infection.

    In his remark, the Managing Director, Andelsta Limited, Engr. Fintan Ibeshi called for the abolition of monthly sanitation stressing that sanitations should be daily activity rather than monthly exercise.

    He said the firm in partnership with the ministry will roll out campaigns, seminars, trainings for volunteer corps in order to promote sanitation advocacy in schools, health centers and other public places.

    Ibeshi noted that the success in the war against mosquito, access to clean water and sanitation for everyone cannot be achieved by the public sector alone without the involvement and strong participation of private sector.

    He explained that through its Decentralised Waste Water Treatment System (DEWATS), waste water in densely populated areas, villages and slums would be treated.

    “The DEWATS solution constitutes primary, secondary and tertiary treatment for waste water and also provides biogas for cooking, lighting and power generation,” he added.

  • NYSC D-G donates wheel-chair to weeping Jigawa girl

    NYSC D-G donates wheel-chair to weeping Jigawa girl

    The Director General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Brig-Gen. Suleiman Kazaure  on Monday ‘wiped off ‘ the tears of the physically-challenged girl in Jigawa, who wept on Saturday for not being among beneficiaries of wheel-chairs donated by NYSC.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that following reports of Saturday’s emotional reactions of Miss Niimma Hamza, 14 year-old cripple, Kazaure directed that she too be provided with a wheel chair immediately.

    Presenting the wheel chair in Shuwarin town of Kiyawa Local Government Area on Monday, Coordinator of NYSC in the state, Mr Michael Omulo, confirmed that the gesture was sequel to the directive of the Director-General.

    The Coordinator explained that NYSC donated the wheel chairs under its outreach initiative aimed at impacting positively on the lives of people at the grassroots.

    In her remark, Hamza thanked Kazaure for extending the gesture to her, as well as the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) for publicizing her emotion that attracted the attention of the Director –General and the public.

    It would be recalled that Hamza had wept, upon realizing that her name was not in the list of beneficiaries of wheel-chairs donated by NYSC to some physically-challenged persons at a ceremony in Shuwarin on Saturday.

    A report on her emotional reaction attracted the Director –General and other voluntary organisations, who had started coming to her aid.

    Those presented with wheel chairs on Saturday were Shamsu Imam from Hadejia Local Government Area, Yusuf Saidu from Kazaure Local Government Area and Mrs Rauda Abdullahi, a housewife, from Kiyawa Local Government Area.

    After Saturday’s presentation of the wheel-chairs however, Jigawa Coordinator of NYSC had consoled Hamza with a cash gift of N2,000, promising to consider her next time. (NAN)

  • SON seizes 213 assorted toiletries, organises sensitisation programmes in Kaduna

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), said on Monday it had seized no fewer than 213 substandard assorted toiletries in Kaduna in the first quarter of 2017.

    The state’s Coordinator of SON, Mr Danlami Datti, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Kaduna.

    Datti said SON’s objective was to promote the nation’s quality products and ensure availability of jobs for the populace.

    He said: ‘‘All products must be of quality standard before reaching consumers.

    ‘‘We are committed to flushing out any form of substandard goods in our market.

    ‘‘We warned manufacturers to desist from producing substandard goods; we will continue to be vigilant on such bad products and impound them.’’

    Datti said during the period under review, SON had organised six enlightenment and sensitisation programmes in the state.

    ‘‘We took sensitisation to the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) camp in Kaduna on the role of SON in skill acquisition and enterprise development.’’

    He added that the organisation had also conducted advocacy visits to secondary schools, and held sensitisation programmes on environmental management.

    ‘‘All the sensitisation programmes were aimed at enlightening the public on what SON is doing to rid Nigeria of substandard goods and make the environment safe to produce standard products.’’

  • DG NYSC expresses FGs commitments towards empowering corps members

    DG NYSC expresses FGs commitments towards empowering corps members

    Brig-Gen. Suleiman Kazaure, Director-General, National Youth service Corps (NYSC) said on Thursday that the Federal Government was committed to   empowering corps members with skills to enable them become self-employed after their  service.

    Kazaure stated this when he inspected the NYSC Integrated Skills Acquisition and Vocational Centre project for the North- East zone in Lafiawo town of Akko Local Government in Gombe state , currently under construction.

    He said similar centres would be sited in each of the six geopolitical zones of the country.

    Kzaure said the projects would not only enable the corps members to be self-employed, but also become employees of labour after their service year.

    “When we come on board, we discovered that we have problem of post-camp training in skills acquisition and therefore decided to initiate a project in the six geo-political zones.

    “If you look at the number of corps members we are producing, no government or private organizations can employ all of them,” he said.

    According to him, the project is being embarked upon in collaboration with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bank of Industry (BOI).

    Kazaure expressed his satisfaction with the level of work on the projects in the state and urged the contractor to maintain standard.

    Mr Ibeh Chidube, NYSC Coordinator in Gombe said that the centre had the capacity to accommodate 500 corps members and 20 facilitators.

    He then commended the effort of the D-G for his initiative, and Gombe state government, for their support

  • NYSC DG expresses FGs commitments towards empowering corps members

    NYSC DG expresses FGs commitments towards empowering corps members

    Brig-Gen. Suleiman Kazaure, Director-General, National Youth service Corps (NYSC) said on Thursday that the Federal Government was committed to   empowering corps members with skills to enable them become self-employed after their  service.

    Kazaure stated this when he inspected the NYSC Integrated Skills Acquisition and Vocational Centre project for the North- East zone in Lafiawo town of Akko Local Government in Gombe state , currently under construction.

    He said similar centres would be sited in each of the six geopolitical zones of the country.

    Kzaure said the projects would not only enable the corps members to be self-employed, but also become employees of labour after their service year.

    “When we come on board, we discovered that we have problem of post-camp training in skills acquisition and therefore decided to initiate a project in the six geo-political zones.

    “If you look at the number of corps members we are producing, no government or private organizations can employ all of them,” he said.

    According to him, the project is being embarked upon in collaboration with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bank of Industry (BOI).

    Kazaure expressed his satisfaction with the level of work on the projects in the state and urged the contractor to maintain standard.

    Mr Ibeh Chidube, NYSC Coordinator in Gombe said that the centre had the capacity to accommodate 500 corps members and 20 facilitators.

    He then commended the effort of the D-G for his initiative, and Gombe state government, for their support