Kazaure: Two years in the saddle

Today, April 18, Brigadier General Sulaiman Zakari Kazaure, the focused Director General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), would have spent two years in office. JOHN OBA assesses his achievements, challenges and future of the Corps

April 18th, 2016 is a milestone in the history of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) because it was the assumption of office of the 17th Director General of the scheme, Brigadier General Sulaiman Zakari Kazaure.

Established in 1973 Established in 1973, by the administration of General Yakubu Gowon, after the three years civil war to address a specific problem that is critical to the continued existence and progress of Nigeria. These include unity and integration of the ethnic nationalities of the nation.

It is therefore imperative to appoint a personality who is not only qualified but has the right attitude, experience and pedigree to pilot the affairs of the scheme. General Kazaure, in this regard, came to the job with an impressive profile. A doctorate degree holder in Chemistry, his sterling academic credentials and accomplishments in various positions in the military establishment put him in good stead for the job. Unassuming and devoid of self -adulation, General Kazaure since assumption of office two years ago, is quietly, gradually, steadily and surely turning around the fortunes of the 44 years old service corps.

Evaluating challenges Right from his first day in office Kazaure, after thoroughly evaluating the challenges of his office occasioned by the need to upgrade facilities in NYSC orientation camps nationwide, guarantee security of corps members and staff in some parts of the country facing security challenges, decided that the way to go as encapsulated in his four focal areas is to consolidate the achievements of previous administrations, motivate the staff through enhancement of welfare provisions, improve the welfare and security of corps members and expand the Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) progamme of the scheme.

 Deepening partnerships Under his watch, General Kazaure, through deepening of the existing partnerships between the scheme and the private sector, expedited the building of integrated skills acquisition centres in the six geopolitical zones of the country to facilitate post-Camp skills training. Two of them in Ekiti and Gombe states have been completed, while that of Delta state is ongoing. He went ahead to stage the NYSC SAED Festival aimed at creating a platform for corps members to showcase their business and vocational skills to investors and other stakeholders to attract funding and material support as well as greater networking with the business community.

Credit facilities for corps members He further facilitated the provision of credit facilities for corps members through collaboration with banks and the launching of Job Portal as well as SAED connect platforms which have expanded opportunities and created alternative platforms for training and mentorship of Corps members nationwide.

Staff motivation A good manager of human resource, General Kazaure’s belief that motivation of staff, through enhancement of welfare provisions, is the surest way to get the best out of them apparently informed Feature his unwavering commitment to evolving confidence building measures aimed at engendering industrial harmony.

It is on record that on assumption of duty he immediately cleared the backlog of unpaid staff entitlements and restored other statutory staff allowances. In addition, a greater percentage of staff of the Scheme that sat for promotion exam in the past two years was promoted. In addition to these, Kazaure upgraded the NYSC staff Clinic with the procurement of state of the arts equipment, added an optometry unit and gave the Directorate Headquarters a face lift. These measures have raised the morale of the staff to new heights and engendered a harmonious relationship between management and the staff of the scheme.

 Infrastructural development The NYSC has equally fared better in the past two years in the area of infrastructural development. Facilities in many NYSC Camps needed to be upgraded when Kazaure took over the leadership of the scheme. Information and communication technology In the same vein, Kazaure has made giant strides in the deployment of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in solving and addressing not only issues of corps administration but the entire operations of the scheme. Kazaure fast tracked the implementation of biometric system of pay-rolling corps members for their monthly allowance to check truancy and eliminate sharp practices among them.

The strategy involves the use of finger prints to confirm the true identity of corps members appearing for clearance. Also, the success of the NYSC-JAMB collaboration is one of the success stories of the deployment of IT solution in the operation of the scheme. Security of corps members In the area of providing adequate security for corps members, the performance of General Kazaure in the last two years remains outstanding and legendary.

Given the daunting security challenges the country is experiencing, the NYSC Director General has vigorously pursued the Scheme’s liaison with security agencies, state governments, traditional institutions, and other stakeholders for the effective protection of corps members. This has placed the safety of corps members on the front burner of security agencies all over the country and led to resumption of orientation exercises in hitherto security challenged States in the North East part of the country, such as Yobe, Adamawa and Gombe States.

NHIS Also, the recent collaboration with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to provide free health services to corps members is another commendable effort by the Director General to enhance the welfare of corps members. Another monumental achievement recorded under Kazaure’s administration, include the resuscitation and revitalization of vital but moribund projects and programmes of the NYSC. Integrated farm settlements In line with the federal government agenda to diversify the economy through harnessing the country’s potentials in the non oil sector, the scheme under Kazaure’s leadership has begun resuscitating its moribund agricultural projects through the establishment of Integrated Farm Settlements in each of the six geopolitical zones of the country. Four of them located in FCT, Bauchi, Kebbi and Oyo states are already operational, equipped with modern farm implements, corps lodges, storage and other facilities required to facilitate optimum yield as a strategic support for the food security initiative of the federal government.

These farm settlements produce various crops including rice, cassava, maize and cowpea as well as poultry. The farms serve the dual purpose of contributing to Government’s objective of actualizing self sufficiency in food production and training grounds for corps members interested in the agricultural component of the NYSC Ventures programme. With all these achievements, Kazaure is not relenting. He has continued, albeit silently, to pursue his vision of ‘leaving a legacy of a National

Youth Service Corps with deepened relevance in solving the contemporary challenges facing the country,’ and will only be satisfied when, according to him, he begins to see ‘perpetual smiles on the faces of corps members and staff as a result of my modest achievements.’ Interestingly, these have attracted deserved recognition and awards for him including the Fellowship of the Chemical Society of Nigeria and Outstanding Northern Nigeria Alumnus award from Leadership Newspapers, among others.

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