NYSC D-G hails corps members’ selfless service

The Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brig.-Gen. Yu’shau Ahmed, has praised corps members for their selfless contributions to the socio-economic development of the country.

Ahmed gave the commendation in a statement issued by the Director of Information and Public Relations, Mr Eddy Megwa, on the occasion of the 2024 International Youth Day (IYD) in Abuja.

The theme for 2024 IYD is “From Clicks to Progress: Youth Digital Pathways for Sustainable Development”.

The theme highlights the key connection between digitization and accelerating the progress of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), emphasizing the crucial contributions of young people in the transformative process.

According to Ahmed, the involvement of corps members in both rural and urban development, participation in national assignments, and other critical responsibilities of national interest cannot be underestimated.

He, however, appealed to them to show more interest in acquiring skills that would make them self-employed, adding that more than 500,000 among their predecessors were job creators in different vocations.

This, he said, was in line with the Renewed Hope agenda of the Federal Government.

Ahmed also said that the scheme had sensitized over 3.5 million corps members to skill acquisition, youth empowerment, and wealth creation, resulting in numerous chain benefits.

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“NYSC has partnered with many institutions that offer grants to corps members to start their businesses.

“We are taking a giant stride in NYSC, and with skill acquisition, we have turned many corps members into millionaires,” he said.

Ahmed also said that more than 37 countries, including Nigeria, were invited to participate in the 2024 International Youth Exchange Program in India.

He said that at the program, NYSC representatives shared ideas with the Indian government on how they could repackage their program to make it more robust like the NYSC.

“Recently, the representative of the 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.”

The D-G advised parents and guardians to also counsel their wards on the imperatives of embracing vocational skills before going for national service.

He, however, urged the corps members to be security-conscious and not indulge in any action that could expose them to danger.