Stories by Ene Osang
Abuja
The Minister of Youth and Sports Barrister Solomon Dalung, has berated those advocating for the abrogation of the National Youth Service (NYSC) scheme, saying this advocacy is capable of leading to derailment of Nigeria’s corporate unity.
In a statement by the Director of Press in the ministry Mr. Tolu Makinde, Dalung stated this while addressing the Batch ‘B’ Corp members at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) orientation Camp in Kubwa.
According to the statement, he maintained that the NYSC scheme has grown to become the backbone of Nigeria’s national unity.
The statement added that the NYSC has also created and fostered progressive relationships among youths from diverse cultures across the country that cannot be taken for granted.
It further urged the corps members to maximize every opportunity the scheme offers for them to make new friends and build bridges across the divide; saying this will become useful in the future.
“The beauty of NYSC is its unity perspective and networking potential and without the scheme, Nigeria would have folded up”.
The Minister added that “the scheme has created opportunity for young Nigerians to get acquainted and interact with other Nigerians in the country saying anybody that intends to rule must know his country very well”.
He also described the scheme as “Nigeria’s foremost leadership training scheme and that if the reward system is minimal, the exposure gained can never be quantified in monetary terms.”
Dalung thetefore called on corps members to engage in religious interface, promote religious tolerance in the country and see themselves as vanguards of a new Nigeria; urging them to regard the current recession in the country as temporary.
“The NYSC ranks high in the priority of President Muhammadu Buhari, therefore, the present Administration is taking steps to improve the scheme because the programme is so dear to him.
“Let me assure you that the Federal Government will always have money to run NYSC even if it means borrowing from anywhere to enhance the scheme,’’ the statement said.
Reacting to issue of posting of corps members, the Minister called on the agency responsible for deploying corps members to ensure that they are posted to MDAs that are relevant to their areas of study for their primary assignment so that they would be optimally utilized.
He appealed to federal agencies to refrain from rejecting corps members for primary engagement as doing so is tantamount to passing a vote of no confidence on the scheme.
Earlier, the State Coordinator Omotayo Adeoye, disclosed that a total number of 2,936 corps members were deployed to FCT Orientation Camp from the thirty-six States of the Federation.
He said the youth arrived on the 24th of November, kitted on the 26th November and that the orientation camp will close on December 14.
