NYSC DG urges states to upgrade orientation camps

By John Oba

Abuja

The Director General, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brig.-Gen. Suleiman Kazaure has called on state governments to upgrade the orientation camps in their states, saying that the upsurge in the number of corps members and the dearth of facilities in the camps have made this mandatory.
Kazaure, who was represented by the director, Planning, Research and Statistics, Mrs Bode Okakwu, made the call yesterday at the opening ceremony of the 2017 Corps Members Forum that held at the FCT orientation camp, Kubwa, adding that the increase in corps population has come with the attendant problems of overstretching of camp facilities, corps rejection, under-utilisation, inadequate lodges for members as well as post-service unemployment.
“To address these challenges, management has consistently sensitised state governments on the need to upgrade the orientation camps for the comfort of corps members during orientation programmes. In the same vein, we are doing all within our means to ensure that states and local governments provide corps lodges.
“We have strengthened and expanded the scheme’s collaboration with relevant agencies such as Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Bank of Industry (BOI), SMEDAN and Access Bank Plc, among others to provide entrepreneurial skills and startup capital for corps members to enable them become self employed after the service year,” he said.
The acting director, Corps Welfare and Inspectorate, Mrs Josephine Okuonghae, said the forum was designed to tap into the intellectual resources of the members, through shared experiences, garner during the service year, to aid policy formulation and implementation in the scheme.

Leave a Reply