Katsina State Governor, Dr Dikko Radda, has expressed appreciation to National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members posted to the state over the years for their laudable efforts in augmenting the state’s manpower needs.

Radda said the state would not have achieved the current level of development in key sectors without the meaningful contributions of NYSC members posted to the state.

He was speaking on Friday at the NYSC Orientation Camp, Katsina, during the swearing-in ceremony of the 2025 Batch ‘C’ Stream 1 corps members deployed in the state.

Represented by the Youths and Sports Development Commissioner, Engr. Suraj Yazid, Radda identified the health and educational sectors as major areas where corp members had made meaningful contributions in the state.

He also said that NYSC members have made a significant impact on community development services, especially in the state’s rural areas.

He said, “I wish to place on record our appreciation of the contributions of corp members in the development of Community Development Service (CDS) projects and augmenting the manpower need in our educational and health sectors.

“I challenge you, therefore, to live up to the standard already set by your predecessors to the progress and development of Katsina State and the nation in general.”

Radda, however, called on the new corps members to shun cultism and related behaviour during their service year.

“Let me reiterate that during your stay in this camp and throughout your service year, you are to shun cultism, political as well as religious intolerance or any other form of anti-social behaviour.

“You are to be guided by the motto of the National Youth Service Corps’ scheme, which is Service to Humanity, bearing in mind the Oath of Allegiance you have sworn to uphold.”

The NYSC state coordinator, Ibrahim Saidu, said a total of 1,195 corps members had registered for the orientation camp, with 695 of them males and 499 females.

Saidu said part of the three-week camp would involve training in entrepreneurship skills to promote self-reliance and economic empowerment among the corps members.

He therefore called on the corps members to ensure full participation in the camp’s activities, as this would prepare them for the future ahead of them.

In other news, the Management of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) reacted to a purported NYSC pamphlet advising corps members to pay ransom in the event of kidnapping.

“While a similar document was presented to Management for consideration by a consultant in 2021, it was not adopted by the Scheme.

“Management, therefore, wishes to make it clear that the document being circulated is not an official NYSC publication and does not represent the Scheme’s policy regarding staff and corps members’ security; as such, it should be ignored.

“The NYSC Management remains committed to the welfare, security, and safety of its staff and corps members and will continue to collaborate with security agencies and other stakeholders in this regard,” the NYSC said.