Ikpeazu commends NYSC founding fathers

The Governor of Abia State, Dr, Okezie Ikpeazu has commended the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) for helping in the socio-economic development of the nation’s economy.

Speaking at the flag-off of the swearing-in ceremony of the 2019 batch B stream 2 orientation of the corps members at the NYSC permanent orientation camp, Umunna, Bende local government, the state governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu commended the founding fathers of National Youth Service Corps for setting up the scheme which he said has helped in the socio-economic development of the nation.

He described the scheme as one of the enduring institutions for the promotion of national unity and development while extolling the scheme for her remarkable achievement since its inception in 1973.

Governor Ikpeazu represented by the acting state chairman of the NYSC governing board and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Youth Development, Mr. Friday Ikpeoha, said that the scheme deserves commendation for its contributions to the development of education, rural health delivery, as well as infrastructural development.

He recalled and extolled the efforts of the corps members during the just concluded 2019 general election and the participation of corps members in other government programs such as U-report, immunization exercise, population census as well as HIV/AIDS prevention amongst others as commendable.

Ikpeazu noted that NYSC has succeeded in steering the interest of corps members away from seeking whitecollar jobs to self-employment and wealth creation and appreciated the effort of NYSC management for their effort in this direction.

He urged them to utilized the opportunity maximally arranging during the orientation course and advised them to heed to the much-needed instructions by the officials.

In his address, the Acting Chairman, NYSC State Governing Board, and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Youth Development, Mr. Friday Ikpeoha represented by a director in the ministry, Dr. Temple Nwosu tasked the corps members to exhibit high sense of discipline and dedication during their orientation course.

According to him, bridges of unity have consistently been built as the scheme has witnessed many intertribal marriages arising from social interaction by the scheme.

 Earlier in her address, the NYSC state Coordinator, Lady Bona Adibeli Fasakin said that at the end of two days registration exercise a total of 1106 corps members, comprising of 682 males and 424 females were duly registered.

Lady Adibeli Fasakin said that the orientation course programme was designed to equipped the corps members adequately for the task of nation-building and the challenges that lie within and ahead of them during the service year.

She further stated that the course content involves skills acquisition, entrepreneurship development programme, training in physical and fitness exercises, lectures including on Igbo language, Security and other self – development lectures , social activities, games and sports towards preparing them for an active and fruitful service year and beyond and charged them to participate fully in all camp activities.

According to her, NYSC in the last few years has recorded a parading shift in the orientation course content, aligning it with the prevailing security and economic realities of the country.

In her words, the precarious state of national security and acute shortage of white-collar jobs, especially for graduates have made this change inevitable and very compelling for NYSC that brought about the introduction of many skills in the orientation course and urged them to take all the training seriously. She stated.

Lady Adibeli Fasakin commended the state governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu for providing the enabling environment for corps members to thrive in the state and appealed to the governor to paid urgent attention to the erosion menace threatening some of the buildings in the camp.

A total of 1106 corps members, comprising of 682 males and 424 females posted in Abia state have since commenced their two weeks orientation camp preparatory to their national youth service scheme (NYSC) across the 17 LGAs in the state.