…. wants Trust Fund actualised

A civil society organisation, Save Nigeria Movement (SNM) and the College of Bishops, Imams, and Clergy Council of Nigeria (CBICCON) have urged Nigerians to support the development of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) for its contribution in promoting national unity and cohesion as well as preparing young graduates for job opportunities in the country.

To this end, the groups want the National Assembly and the Executive to show commitment in ensuring that the NYSC Trust Fund comes to fruition.

The groups while addressing a joint press conference in Abuja explained that their position is in line with their mandates of serving as watchdogs in reforming and creating a better society for all.

Rev Solomon Semaka and Bishop Abel Kings, Convener of Save Nigeria Movement SNM, and National Coordinator of CBICCON while speaking poured encomiums on the current management team of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) headed by the Director General (DG), Brig Gen Yu’Shau Ahmed for its avid dedication and commitment to the welfare and empowerment of Nigerian corp members as well as in keeping with the objectives, vision and mission of the Scheme.

The release read in part, “as a civil society organisation (CSO) and religious leaders, we feel obliged to promote social order and excellence in public service. “NYSC under Brig Gen Yu’Shau Ahmed has exceeded all expectations and driven the Scheme to enviable heights within a short on the saddle and we are pleased with his stewardship. As active stakeholders in the civil space, we shall continue to partner, mobilise and garner support for the Scheme with the confidence that the current management is well poised to deliver on the mandate of the Scheme for the benefit of Nigerian youths and Nigerians at large”.

They also took out time to eulogize the DG and his team for their unwavering commitment to upholding the founding ideals of the Scheme especially in the areas of promoting national unity, employment generation and skill acquisition for youth empowerment and self reliance.

According to the release, “the NYSC scheme was an honest effort to unite Nigerians through a deliberate policy of posting graduate Nigerians across different cultures and backgrounds to different locations so as to break the stereotypes and tribal misconceptions as well as suspicions that existed before and after the Nigerian civil war. This has been achieved with outstanding success. The scheme has also become the largest employer of labour with millions of young graduate Nigerians participating from almost every family and community”.

Other pivotal achievements of the Scheme under the astute leadership of Brig Gen Yu’Shau Ahmed according to the release is “the provision of essential services through strategic partnerships with government ministries, agencies, parastatals and the private sector, as most health facilities and schools in the rural areas all over the country would have collapsed for lack of manpower if not for the intervening role of NYSC Corp members. In fact, medical Corps members and teachers have been made to head some of those institutions with outstanding results so far especially in the rural areas where most government workers dread to work”.

On election duty and other essential services offered by Corps members, the groups hailed the current management “for not only sustaining the partnership that has seen Corps members actively participating in the recent elections in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa but also ensuring the safety of Corps members on these assignments. With the involvement of Corps members, electoral fraud has been minimal. Their anticipated participation in the forthcoming Census will also be a game changer for Nigerians first digital Census because of Corp members advanced technological skills”.

While commending the current DG for his foresight to continue with the policies of his predecessors and even take it a notch further with his wealth of experience and personal commitment to Corp members development in the country, the release urged Nigerians “to support and encourage Mr. President to assent to the NYSC Trust Fund Bill already passed by the National Assembly to enable the Scheme deliver on its set objectives and the vast skill acquisition empowerment programs embarked by the scheme. It is our conviction that as soon as the Bill is assented to by the President, youth unemployment will be a thing of the past with the kind strategies already on ground”

The CSOs also called on the public to support the Scheme with useful intelligence, cooperation to help secure Corps members across the country as security is a collective responsibility of everybody, adding that, “Brig Gen Yu’Shau Ahmed and his team have done so much to drive the renewed hope agenda of Mr. President especially in the area of welfare and security of Corps members and they need our support. A situation where Corps members are subjects of attack by criminal elements is discouraging and will only dampen their moral to serve”.

SNM and CBICCON finally passed an overwhelming vote of confidence on the DG of NYSC, Brig Gen Yu’Shau Ahmed and his competent team “who have served transparently as well as shown true patriotism in the face of challenges and scarce resources”. They further pledged their “steadfast support to the Scheme, calling on Nigerians as well as other CSOs to join forces in promoting the policies and programmes of the NYSC scheme under the current leadership”.