NYSC members demand improved welfare package

Corps doctor takes healthcare services to A’Ibom community
As the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) marks its 45 years anniversary, serving corps members have urged the federal and state governments to improve their welfare packages for more effective service delivery.

They also asked for better packages for staff of the scheme.The corps members, who were interviewed during a road walk show along Ali Akilu Road in Kaduna yesterday said the scheme had not done bad in the past 45 years but believed it could do better in the next 45 years with greater support of all and sundry.

Glory Olaniyi, a graduate of Animal Production and Health from the Ladoke Akintola University of Science and Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Oyo State, said she considered the national service an opportunity to know her country better, meet new people and increase her chances of entrepreneurship.“I think the scheme is not doing badly, especially in the area of national integration. I am a living example. I am from Osun, schooled in Oyo and now serving in Kaduna, which to me is the ideal thing.

Also sharing her experience, Garba Salome, a graduate of Physics Education from Adamawa State University believed the scheme was making progress as she could see some changes in the way young people do things.“Those that passed through the service are doing things as evidence of the self-reliance training they received during the one year mandatory service to their fatherland,” she added.

State Coordinator of the scheme, Dahunsi Muhammad said, the NYSC was already a household name and one of the few organisations that have contributed to the progress and achievements of the country, describing those calling for its scrapping as ‘ignorant’ of its achievements over the years.

Meanwhile, a medical doctor and a serving National Youth Service Corps NYSC member, Mrs. Esther Akpan, who is serving at the Nigeria Medical Association Clinic in Uruan Local Council, Akwa Ibom State, has build a clinic for Adadia Community as her personal Community Development Service (CDS).Akpan, who said she was moved to serve lives and make people feel happy, also donated desks and sick bays to four schools in the same local government area of her primary assignment.

Again, she said she was motivated to make the donation on the realisation that health posts were not available in most schools in Uruan Local Council, while some children sat on the floor to receive classes.

She undertook de-worming of pupils of government primary school, Ibiaku Issiet, liaised with state government to provide desks to the primary school, set up a sickbay in Adiaha Obong Secondary School, Ekpene Ukim and Methodist Secondary School, Ibiaku Issiet.Akpan also conducted free medical treatment for adults and children in Adadia, donated drugs to the schools where sickbays were set up, among others.