By Stellamaries Amuwa, Abuja
Members of the National Youth Service Corps Scheme (NYSC) have been applauded for their selfless contributions to the socio-economic development of the country.
The Director of the Corps, Brigadier General YD Ahmed gave the commendation in his message to the Corps Members on the occasion of 2024 International Youth Day.
He said their involvement in both rural and urban development, participation in National assignments and other critical responsibilities of national interest cannot be underestimated. He appealed to them to show more interest in acquisition of skills that would make them self employed adding that more than 500,000 among their predecessors are job creators in different vocations, which is in line with the renewed hope of the Federal Government.
General Ahmed further said the Scheme has sensitized over Three Million, Five Hundred Thousand Corps Members on Skill Acquisition, youth empowerment and wealth creation which has resulted into numerous chain benefits.
He added that NYSC has partnered many institutions that offer grants to Corps Members in order to start their businesses. “We are taking a giant stride in NYSC and with skill acquisition we have turned many Corps Members to millionaires”, he said.
The DG urged the Corps Members to be security conscious and not indulge in any action that can expose them to danger.
Speaking further, General Ahmed stated that more than 37 countries including Nigeria was invited to participate at the 2024 International Youth Exchange Programme in India whereby NYSC representatives shared ideas with the Indian Government on how they can repackage their programme to make it more robust like the NYSC.
“Recently, the representative of Tanzanian Government was here to see how they can replicate what we do in NYSC in their own country and we promised to assist them in whatever way we can”, he said. General Ahmed advised parents and guardians to also counsel their wards on the imperative of embracing vocation skills before coming for National Service.
