The Director General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier General Olakunle Nafiu, has commended the Citizenship and Leadership Training Centre (CLTC) for its continued role in nurturing Nigerian youths into effective and responsible leaders.
Nafiu disclosed this in Abuja, while delivering a goodwill message at a youth conference organised by the CLTC in commemoration of Nigeria’s 65th Independence Anniversary.
The NYSC boss described the CLTC as one of the NYSC’s longstanding partners in nation-building, noting that both institutions share a common vision of grooming young Nigerians for leadership through discipline, teamwork, and patriotism.
The event brought together youth leaders, government officials, and development partners to discuss ways of reviving national values and volunteerism among Nigerian youths.
Nafiu recognised the CLTC alongside other institutions, such as the Nigerian Army, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, and the Independent National Electoral Commission, among others, as key stakeholders in the achievements the NYSC has made over the last 52 years.
He appealed for sustenance of the bilateral rapport to mould more purposeful youths that would take the nation to greater heights.
The NYSC boss stated that the theme of the conference, ‘Reviving Values and Volunteerism among the Youth,’ was in line with what NYSC has been doing for over five decades.
He reaffirmed this statement by saying that the scheme had successfully fostered a spirit of volunteerism among Corps Members through its Community Development Service (CDS) initiative; as a result, they (Corps Members) had made significant contributions towards improving the living conditions of many people in their host communities across the country.
In his remarks, the Chief Executive Officer of Future Africa, Mr Iyinoluwa Abiyeji, said that the participants needed to have four traits that could make any of them stand out and be recognised to be bestowed with trust of leadership.
He listed the four characteristics as being resolute, resourceful, relentless and taking responsibility.
Earlier in her welcome remarks, the Director General of CLTC, Ms. Rinsola Abiola, said that the purpose of the conference was to inspire Nigerian youths to embrace national values and to view volunteerism as a way of life, enabling them to make an impact on society.
She added that the expected outcome of the conference would be a blueprint of steps that policy formulators could take to revive the values on which the nation was built.
