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Tag: National Youth Service Corps

  • Corps member dies of heart failure

    Corps member dies of heart failure

    A National Youth Service Corps member serving in Sokoto State has died of heart failure, the State NYSC Coordinator, Alhaji Musa Abubakar, announced Friday.

    Abubakar  named the deceased as Anthony Ochai  from Benue State.

    He spoke at  the passing out of 1,411 corps members deployed to the state under the 2016 batch ”A”, Stream One.

    Ochai was deployed to the Government Secondary School, Tsamaye, Sabon-Birni Local Government in the state for his primary assignment

    “The deceased was resting after a football match between the various batches of the scheme, suddenly he just collapsed and died,” Abubakar said.

    “His remains were brought to the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto and it was confirmed that he died of heart failure.”

    Abubakar also said 10 corps members had their service year extended by between three months to one year, for absconding.

    However, 10 corps members were given state merit awards, while four others received the Chairman’s commendation certificate.

    He added that 85 other corps members were given commendation letters for outstanding performance.

    Abubakar advised the outgoing corps members to continue to be good ambassadors of the service.

     

  • NYSC online registration has detected fake corps members – DG

    NYSC online registration has detected fake corps members – DG

    The National Youth Service Corps, NYSC scheme said Monday it has detected several fake corps members following the introduction of the online registration platform some years back.

    The NYSC Director-General, Brigadier General Suleiman Kazaure who said while speaking with newsmen after declaring open the 2017 Public Relations officers’ workshop of the scheme held in Abuja refused to give the number of fake corps members detected so far.

    He however said a lot of them have been exposed.

    “With the online registration, we have been able to check the ghost corps members and a lot of things, and it will facilitate the work and will make it easier for the staff.

    “I don’t have the figure of ghost corps members but we have a lot of them,” she said.

    On the training, he recalled that the recent challenges resulting from misconception of the scheme’s operation underscored the need to conduct the training.

    He said: “the workshop is a continuation of management’s commitment at ensuring that officers saddled with the responsibility of managing the image of the scheme are equipped with the right knowledge and skills for better performance, and to keep them abreast of developments in the business of information, crisis and client relations management.

    “You may wish to recall our recent challenges resulting from the misconception of our operations by a section of the public. Such challenges underscore the need to resuscitate trainings of this nature.”

    The Director of press and public relations of the scheme, Abosede Aderibigbe while welcoming the various States public relations officers to the workshop said it is aimed at achieving at the four points agenda of the DG.

    She said at the end of the workshop, the various participants would have been better equipped to handle their job with rare dexterity to the upliftment of the image of the scheme.

     

  • Kano  plans collaboration with NYSC to improve sports

    Ibrahim Galadima, the Chairman of Kano State Sports Commission, says the state government will collaborate with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to improve sports activities in the state.

    Galadima said this on Friday at a grand reception organised by the NYSC in honour of their football team in Kano.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Kano NYSC football team finished third at the just-concluded NYSC Cultural and Sports Festival in Abuja.

    Galadima noted that engaging in sports activities was one of the ways to bring the youths together and get them united.

    “As you know, sports also contribute a lot to maintaining and improving our health status, hence the need for more efforts to improve the sector,” he said.

    Galadima said the state government had concluded plans to start organising sports activities and competitions among higher institutions in the state.

    He said the state government was also planning to have such sports activities and competitions among ministries, parastatals and government agencies.

    The former chairman of the then Nigeria Football Association (NFA) said this would help to maintain and increase peaceful coexistence and unity, especially among the youths.

    In his remarks, the NYSC State Coordinator in Kano, Malam Ladan Baba, said the reception was to honour the corps members and commend them for a job well done.

    “It is also to encourage corps members in the state to always participate in all sports activities,’’ he said.

    Baba urged the Kano NYSC football team to redouble their efforts so as to come out tops at subsequent competitions.

    The NYSC coordinator called on philanthropists in the state to support the football team to move sports activities forward in the state.

  • Father of late corps member insists NYSC’s negligence killed daughter  

    Father of late corps member insists NYSC’s negligence killed daughter  

    ….Friends wants Buhari to caution Minister over statement on her death

     

    Olawale Oladepo father of the late corps member, Ifedolapo, who died in Kano Orientation Camp of the National Youth Service Corps, Monday, insisted that his daughter was killed due to negligence of officials of the NYSC.

    A retired sanitation officer, who spoke with reporters in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, expressed gratitude to President Muhammad Buhari for asking for an investigation in to the circumstances that led to the death of his daughter.

    Pledging his cooperation to any panel to investigate his daughter’s death, Oladepo said he had not been informed of proposed autoposy on Ifedolapo.

    He contended that the family would want the panel to listen to the conversations between Dolapo and her sister on a communication network before she died.

    He also commended the Governor of Osun State, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, members of the National Assembly, members of the Osun State House of Assembly and the media for their interest in the circumstances that led to the death of his daughter.

    Speaking further on the state of health of his daughter before she died, he said:  “Dolapo nursed no ailment before she departed home for Kano at about 6am on Thursday 24th of November and she called at regular intervals along the journey till she got to Kano around 1:00 am the following day. On arrival, she headed straight for the NYSC Orientation Camp with two other friends.

    “I wonder how a person, who participated actively and appeared so radiant in all the pictures she sent home could, according to the medical certificate of the cause of her death issued by Gwazo General Hospital, died of Kidney infection.”

    The father, who gave an account of all the activities of his daughter to the point of death, attributed the death to negligence and lackadaisical attitude of the NYSC, adding that the NYSC should come out with a vivid account of what happened to the late Ifedolapo between 8:00 am on Monday that she reported to the camp clinic and the time she passed on at 4:00 pm the second morning.

    He said: “The death certificate issued by the Gwazo General Hospital, Kano said she had Sepsis that led to kidney infection. I wonder if truly she had kidney infection. Did the camp have proper medical facilities to have kept her, and why taking her to the General Hospital with no facilities to treat such ailments?”

    Meanwhile, late Ifedolapo’s friends have called on President Buhari to caution the Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Comrade Solomon Lalung, against making inflammatory statement that could further aggravate the agony the parents and family members of the deceased.

    They accused the Minister of exonerating the NYSC of culpability in the death of Ifedolapo, alleging that he indicated that the remains of Ifedolapo might be exhumed for autopsy to confirm the cause of the death while in NYSC orientation camp.

    Also, speaking with newsmen in Osogbo shortly after Dolapo’s father’s vivid account of events that led to the death of his daughter, the Coordinator of the group, Mr. Oladele Banji, noted that the statement by the Minister had caused further trauma for the family, especially the mother.

  • NYSC members posted to Niger in good health – Coordinator

    NYSC members posted to Niger in good health – Coordinator

    The National Youth Service Corps Coordinator for Niger, Bolade Omulayo has said the 2,424 Batch B corps members posted to Niger are in good health condition.

    Omulayo told journalists at the Paiko camp on Monday that medical facilities and drugs had been provided to address the health care needs of the corps members.

    ” For cases beyond the camp clinic, patients are referred to General Hospital Minna for thorough medical attention.”

    She explained that there were no serious health cases among them, stressing that malaria and asthma were the common ailments among corps members due to change of environment.

    “One corps member suffering from epileptic condition has since been redeployed to his state of origin,” she said.

    Pregnant and nursing mothers among them were also redeployed to their various states for primary assignments.

    The coordinator expressed satisfaction with the level of security at the camp, saying there were no threats to live and property.

  • Reps consider Buhari’s N180b virement request

    Reps consider Buhari’s N180b virement request

    The House of Representatives is set to consider the request of President Muhammadu Buhari for the virement of N180b.

    The request which came through a motion by the Majority Leader Femi Gbajabiamila was passed with no resistance from the floor on Wednesday. 

    President Buhari had in a letter dated Tuesday, 25 October 2016 to Speaker Yakubu Dogara requested for virement of funds in the Appropriation Act, 2016.

    The request was in respect of virement of funds appropriated for special intervention  (Recurrent) and special intervention (Capital) to fund some critical Recurrent and Capital items.

    According to the President,  the request was necessitated by a number of reasons, including shortfalls in provisions of Personnel cost, the inadequate provision for the Amnesty Programme,  the need to sustain the war against insurgency and the depreciation of the Naira.

    The letter that came together with the $90b loan request on the same day  was read on the floor while the Speaker said it will be  listed for debate the following week.

    Following the rejection of the President’s requests by the Senate, the House clarified it’s position that it has not rejected the letter but would  rather consider it through a substantive motion.

    The Majority Leader, while justifying the need for the House to consider the motion said in the course of implementing the Appropriation Act, 2016, several Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) presented issues pertaining to salary shortfalls as it affects the MDAs that are not under the platform of Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), and some MDAs that are under the IPPIS platform wpuld be locked put as their Personnel Cist budgets would not cover salaries for the rest of the year.

    “Also the Nigerian Air Force needs to cover the foreign exchange differentials in the procurement of its critical equipment and augment the contigency vote, and also to provide for inadequacy in the provision for the National Youth Service Corps in 2016, among others,” he added.

    The motion was unanimously adopted after it was put to a voice vote by the presiding officer, Deputy Speaker Yussuff Lasun, who referred it to Committee on Appropriation and other Committees to which the virement relates to serve as sub-committees of the Committee on Appropriations.
  • How gunmen robbed, raped us – Corps members

    How gunmen robbed, raped us – Corps members

    It was a sorrowful nightfall for two members of the National Youth Service Corps last Wednesday in Asarama Community, Andoni Local Government Area, Rivers State, after they were robbed and raped by suspected militants.
    The victims were said to be in bed at their unsecured lodge in an isolated part of the community when the gunmen broke into their rooms to rob and rape them.
    The operation which started at midnight lasted for more than two hours, with two female corps members raped, and phones, food stuff, clothes, shoes, money among others carted away.
    One of the victims who didn’t want her name in print in a telephone conversation with The Nation explained that the gunmen numbering seven wore face caps except for the ring leader, who was hooded.
    She said the gunmen hinged their actions on the failure of the government to pay them their dues.
    “The gunmen broke the door with their legs. No burglary proof or protector. We were about seven in the lodge. We had five serving Corps members, one ex-corps member and one other person. They entered my room and I was told to knock on other rooms. They came here with guns and cutlasses. They were about seven in number. They asked all of us out of our rooms and they led all of us into an empty room. Then later they came to ask if we had any male Corps member because the lodge is like a wing. It was the first wing they robbed in the first hour of the operation. In that first wing, we had just one male Corps member; so they took him to the other room and beat him with a cutlass. They asked him to pull his trousers.
    ‘’We, the girls were packed in an empty room and they told us to stand up one after the other and they led us to our rooms. Some phones were collected and luckily for some of us, our phones were not with us because we were charging it. I had my phone with  me but immediately they came, I hid my phone because they did not come with a torch. It was our torch they were collecting. There has not been light in our lodge since we started serving. We have been using a generator set and we don’t put it on overnight. So there was no light and they didn’t come with any source of light. They asked me to put on my torch. They asked us how much we had as they led us to our rooms. As they were doing that, they were beating, slapping and hitting us. They searched the rooms and asked us to bring the money. So I think because I was fidgeting, I told them the amount I didn’t have. The one I had I gave them and they were asking for the remaining one. I was still checking when one of them came in to scatter all my stuff. And I was  trying to tell him that was just all I had. They asked me to kneel down and went into other people’s room to do the same thing. 
    “When he came back into my room, he locked the door and asked me to look for the money, else he would kill me. I told them that I didn’t have any money apart from the one I already gave them. Then he (gunmen) asked me to pull my dress, and I was actually raped that night. I struggled but he overpowered me. He was beating and slapping me. The marks are still on my body. He was the one who had the gun with him and he had already locked the door on us. One other female Corps member was raped in our room too.
    After that, he told me to lie faced down on my bed, then also took some things from my room and left. He told me to lock the door when he left and warned that I shouldn’t open the door for any other person that when he wants to come, he would knock.
    Then I was hearing footsteps; I think they were carrying the food stuff that they saw in other rooms. They went to the other wing where they met two men and a lady and  they collected their phones, foods stuff, clothes, shoes, and some plates too. All these lasted for more than two hours. They sounded local and they were saying “since the government did not pay us; no vex o. All these things, na hunger cause am. If government no pay us, then if we get gun, we go find our way.’’
    Expatiating further, she said: “There is no police station in that area. And our lodge is bushy, so even if we called for help, no one would have heard us. If you are coming into the community, our lodge is the first house. It was my pastor who took us to a hospital. The hospital is in another community entirely, there is no health facility where our quarters is located.
    “The local inspector, local government chairman and some other people visited us in the hospital and took care of our hospital bill. We were adequately treated and given drugs to prevent pregnancy or infection. They told us to leave the place.
    “So, the place is under lock now. I feel very bad. It’s very heartbreaking and traumatising but I know God has just been helping me. And with the people around me, I’ve been so encouraged. I know God knows about everything that happened and I know those that did it will not go unpunished.”
    She condemned the state of insecurity especially in hinterland communities like Asarama saying: “There was a time they raised an issue that everybody will be left in his or her own geopolitical zones, so even if they wouldn’t want to scrap it, we should be posted within our geopolitical zones. If I was in my own place, whatever they were saying, I could pick up some little things from it when they were speaking the language and that could even be used to trace them. But in a place like that, by 5 or 6pm, you have to be in your own house and if something happens, you don’t know how to communicate. Even if someone is talking about killing you, you cannot understand to save yourself. If it will not be scrapped, they should maintain us in our own geopolitical zones and they should ensure security measures because we did not say we wanted to serve. They made it compulsory for us, so once we have agreed that we want to serve our country, they should make sure security measures are high. There is no security where we are and I think that was what gave the gunmen confidence because they know there is nowhere we can run to for help.”
    Meanwhile, other corps members have become apprehensive since the incident, especially the females.
    According to one of the corps member serving in the same community, no measures have been instilled to forestall further attacks in the area. She said it took the intervention of the Zonal Inspector to approve their relocation to safer areas as the Local Inspector insisted they stay or face harsh consequences. 
    According to her: “The proximity of our lodge to the scene coupled with no guaranteed  security had set panic in us, we don’t know these guys  neither do we know what line of action they would take next, we just thought  it’s better to be proactive and not just take a harmful risk. So, we all decided to vacate the lodge and not to return.’’
  • Why I wrote book on Tinubu – Kaduna Corps member

    Why I wrote book on Tinubu – Kaduna Corps member

    A member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) serving in Kaduna, Olayinka Olusuyi has written a book on the National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, titled; ‘Our Hero Democrat’.

    The 248 page book chronicled the immense contributions of the former Lagos State Governor to Nigeria’s democracy, especially in face of fierce military dictatorship and opposition to advocacy for democratic rule.

    Presenting the book to newsmen amidst his colleagues, during their Community Development Service (CDS) meeting in Kaduna on Wednesday, Corps member Olusuyi said, though he is not a politician, as it is against NYSC rules, but he belongs to a NYSC CDS club which creates awareness on politics, economy, socio-cultural and religious issues, hence his resolve to raise awareness on the contributions of Tinubu to Nigeria’s democratic development.

    Olusuyi said, he decided to write on Tinubu for what he described as his sacrificial ideological, nationalistic theoretical, opposition activism, daring and selfless commitment to the struggle, enthronement and nurturing of the nation’s democracy, as well as his present struggle to keep Nigeria democracy in a modern shape.

    According to him, “I tilted my book, ‘Our Hero Democrat’ because Tinubu is our hero of democracy, due to his bloody sacrifice for Nigeria. Categorically, Tinubu is Nigeria’s Democrat by work, battle, sacrifice, struggle and resilient fight. I did not give him these titles, but he earned them on the political battle ground”.

    “I wonder when some people still condemn such a man who has sacrifice for this great nation. A lot of those who attack Tinubu today were nowhere to be found during the real struggle for democracy. It is unfortunate that we live in a country where people’s sacrifice for their nation is easily forgotten or never rewarded and most times victimised.

    “My question is, do Nigerians not remember the annulment of June 12 election and those who led protest that the presume winner be enthroned? Tinubu was a founding member and a kingpin in the struggle to enthrone democracy in Nigeria.

    “The present government have tried to come to power times, but failed during election. Whether we like it or not, the truth can never be hidden. Asiwaju branded President Muhammadu Buhari. Asiwaju was almost crushed to death when he became a target during the Abacha led military government”, he said.

    Reacting to question on whether the book was politically motivated, the Corps member said, he has never met Tinubu or any of his close associates, not to talk of being contracted to write the book.

    He explained that, “Tinubu is a Nigerian who has contributed to Nigeria’s democracy Immensely. And I believe in whoever believes in Nigeria. He did not start promoting democracy when it was easy, he did it when others were scared of being arrested during military oppression.

  • Edo: PDP chieftain, INEC officer remanded for kidnapping

    Edo: PDP chieftain, INEC officer remanded for kidnapping

    A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Nakowa Suleiman and an official of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Mr. Effong Akpan, have been remanded at the Auchi prison for allegedly abducting two members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) during the recent conduct of Voters Registration Exercise.

    The court was informed that Alhaji Suleiman and Akpan confiscated the registration machine to the residence of Suleiman where the Corps members, Matthew Omaji and Grace Adah were coerced to register people illegally.

    The three-count charge preferred against the suspects reads, “..that on the 25th of June, 2016, at Ofukpo, in the Fugar Magistrate District did abduct one Mathew Omaji and compelled him against his will to carry out unlawful activities and thereby committed an offence contrary to to section 1 And punishable under section 3 (2) of the Edo state kidnapping prohibition law 2009 as amended in 2013.

    “That you compelled Mathew Omaji to carry out unlawful activities and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 1 and punishable under section 3 (2) of the Edo state kidnapping law 2009 as amended in 2013.

    “That you Effong Akpan on or before 25th June, 2016 at Ofukpo in Fugar Magistrate District did aid and abet Alhaji Nakowa to abduct Mathew Omaji and Grace Adah and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 4 (1) of the Edo state kidnapping (prohibition) law 2009 as amended in 2013.”

    The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges and the presiding Magistrate, Abibor Emmanuel, remanded them to Auchi prison pending when a new date will be fixed to hear the their bail application.

  • Protest in film corporation, as staff, students call for sack of MD

    Protest in film corporation, as staff, students call for sack of MD

    Students of the National Film Institute (NFI), Jos, Plateau State, yesterday embarked on protest where they asked for the removal of the Managing Director of the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC), managers of the institution, Mr Danjuma Dadu.

    Activities of the school and the NFC were brought to a halt since Tuesday when the staff of the corporation kick-started the strike that was soon joined by the students.

    According to the protesters who milled outside the Corporation’s headquarters before taking to the streets, the staff were told to convene for a promotion exam on Monday, the sixth time since last year, after which nothing was done. They also cited non-payment of allowances and a decline in the administration of the corporation as the reason for the protest rally.

    Holding placards with inscriptions such as ‘Seven years no promotion’, ‘Fed Govt Help us’, ‘No to personal interest’, ‘Dadu (MD NFC) is a bricklayer not a filmmaker’, ‘Dadu (MD NFC) must go’, ‘Pay us all our allowances’ and ‘This slavery must stop,’ they also took to the social media where they vent their displeasure of the Dadu’s leadership.

    It was the first-of-its-kind protest since the establishment of the corporation in 1979.

    In some of the grievances on the social media, Manasseh Whyte said: ‘The NFC has a lot of innovation to put in place in order to add immensely to the development of the film industry. The only good thing about the NFC as it is now is the NFI; even that as I heard, is been affected seriously. The NFC needs to take seriously the reasons for its establishment.’

    Otuogbodor Andrew on his part, was cynic saying, ‘They are just realizing the absence of vision of the corporation. I laugh!’

    Complaints about the management of NFC and the NFI by staff and students respectively had been rife.

    ‘Now I wonder why the students did not join in this struggle,’ said Okeagu Ikechukwu Henry, a filmmaker, advocating that students also possessed the power to influence what he considered as the rot in NFC.

    ‘If only they knew the power they had to make their filmic education grow. But I’m glad the staff has come out to fight for what is right. These things should stop in even other sectors. He killed the school and wants to kill the staff with his polices’

    Thus, when the students began their protest yesterday,  they cited lack of requisite training facilities as some of the problems confronting them. The students in one voice also denounced the school administration and called for a change.

    “We need all help, from the Media to transform the National film Institute, Jos,” Agbo Kelly said, complaining that they couldn’t have a degree and couldn’t participate in the National Youth Service Corps, while Ejim Fortune Kezi said, ‘NFI’s autonomy is the only solution to this nonsense!!! Aluta continue  my peeps! Kudos.’

    Another student, Friday Nwagwu, also said: ‘When we protested lack of equipment and facilities in NFI and our admission was threatened, what did we get as a response from staffs?’

    ‘The rat wey bite me don enter somebody’s house. Fight for your right, oh.’

    However, by yesterday evening, NFC’s Public Affairs Officer, Ngozi Udoh, in a telephone call with The Nation, said all the issues have been resolved.

    “The issues that generated the protest has been resolved,” Udoh said.

    “It was just a small minor misunderstanding based on our promotion that ought to have held yesterday (Tuesday) but because of some logistics, the promotion was not held. But as I am talking to you now, we have just finished the promotion exercise. So everything has been resolved. The management, the union, we had a meeting, the managing director addressed the staff in the morning where everything has been amicably resolved.”

    She said the managing director also met with the union of the NFI.

    “The MD has also met with the student representatives in the morning. He had a meeting with them. And he has also promised to look into the issues. They also had one or two issues that they wanted management to look into. And MD has promised them. As we are talking, we are in the facility of the NFI. And because the issues were amicably addressed, they (students) allowed us to use the facility for the promotion exam.”

    Dadu has been hugely criticised for lack of professionalism and transparent leadership since he took over as MD of the corporation in 2013.
    It was the first time a non-film practitioner was made the MD of the NFC. This, many condemned as one of the faults of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration.
    Dadu is an Engineer who was made MD despite huge protest by Nigerian filmmakers.