NYSC to begin quarterly orientation courses (4 Batches)

Director General of the National Youth Service Corp, NYSC, Brig-Gen. Johnson Olawumi, yesterday, said that the scheme would soon conduct its orientation course for prospective corps members on a quarterly basis to accommodate the increasing number of graduates being turned out by accredited institutions for the scheme.

Olawumi, who disclosed this in Asaba, Delta State, during the opening ceremony of the 2016 annual management conference of the scheme, appealed to states that do not have permanent orientation camps to expedite action on same.

He noted that the provision of NYSC permanent orientation camp was a statutory responsibility of state governments and part of their contributions to human capital and youth development.

He said the theme of this year’s conference was selected to address some of the challenges confronting the scheme to enable it achieve the desired objectives of the founding fathers.

Identifying sudden increase in corps population with accompanying decrease in the budgetary allocation and rejection of corps members by employers as some of the major challenges that confront the scheme, he expressed appreciation to the Delta State Government for its consistent support for the scheme over the years.

Olawumi said the choice of Delta State to host this year’s conference was unanimously agreed upon by NYSC management to complement its unflinching support to the scheme.
He said, “While the scheme appreciates the consistent co-operation of corps employers over the years, it further appeals that rather than reject corps members who actually are on national assignment, a budgetary provision should be made for them at the beginning of every year by both public and private organisations in the country.

“Last year, the scheme through the NYSC Health Initiative for Rural Dwellers, HIRD, lunched a holistic medical outreach targeted at the rural poor. The programme which is designed to take the primary healthcare delivery in Nigeria to a higher level will be sustained in view of the recent outbreak of Lassa fever disease in 17 states of the federation because of the wide spread of corps members in the 774 local governments of the country.”

In his address, the Delta State governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, urged managers of the scheme to continue to “Let corps members know that the years ahead promise to be exciting but there is need to display necessary caution as current challenges in the country need to be addressed.”