NYSC tasks employers of corps members in Nassarawa state

By David Okpashi

NASARAWA State Coordinator of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Abdullahi Jikamshi tuesday appealed to employers organizations and the government to accept corps members posted to the state as well as engaging them on community development

The NYSC Coordinator who made the appeal during a courtesy call on the Nasarawa State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Lafia, explained that the call has become neccesary in view of the under utilization of the corps members in community development which he said is the main point of the scheme.

“The scheme had achieved a lot and contributed immensely to the development of the State in different sectors since the creation of the State in 1996, but what is lacking is the utilization of the corps members on community development”.

Jikamshi further appealed to stakeholders to always provide for the accommodation, welfare as well as ensure the security of the Corps members posted to their organisations.

“As an Oliver twist We want to beg a little welfare, accommodation and ensure their security is enough and will make them feel welcome and would stay. Lack of accommodation alone is sufficient reason for a Corps member to apply for redeployment to other States or places where he or she will be properly care for” the coordinator stated.

He lamented that most organisations were not properly engaging the Corps members posted to them.

“When you assign responsibility to a Corps member only one or two times in a week, what do you expect him or her to do with the other days and time,” he asked.

Jikamshi further explained that Corps members were all youths, full of energy and initiative to add value to the society and appealed that host communities should engage them everyday.

He explained that the community development service is the second cardinal objective of the scheme and called for support to enable the Corps members add value the their host communities.

He said the the essence of the visit was to further stress the importance of journalists to the development of the society which cannot be undermined, hence their decision to partner the NUJ in the area of information dissemination.

“We want you to use your wide reach to disseminate information on the activities of NYSC and the good work that Corps members were doing across the State,” he added.

Responding, the State NUJ Chairman, Comrade. Salihu Alikali, expressed gratitude to the management of NYSC for the visit and the desire for partnership.

The Chairman assured that journalists in the State would continue to promote the good work the scheme had been doing through news stories, special reports and phone-in programmes.

He therefore, appealed to the State and local government as well as other spirited individuals to support the scheme to serve the state better