Owerri – Gov. Emeka Ihedioha of Imo said the NYSC scheme had enhanced national unity, integration and promoted fair distribution of skilled labour across the nation.
Ihedioha said this at the official opening of the 2019 Batch ‘C’ Stream 11 Orientation Course for corps members deployed to Imo at the NYSC permanent Orientation Camp, Eziama Obaire.
The governor was represented by Mr Obinna Chibuzo, the Permanent Secretary, state Ministry of Youths and Social Development.
He said the scheme had lived up to expectations and contributed in the success story of the Rebuilt Imo Policy of the present adminstration.
“The NYSC scheme as you may have known has lived up to expectation. The scheme has in no small measure enhanced national unity, integration as well as promoted the fair distribution of skilled labour in all the nooks and crannies of the nation,” he said.
The governor urged the corps members to, from the orientation camp, began to think and plan how they could contribute their quota to the state and surpass their predecessors.
He said that the NYSC Skill Acquisition Training was a veritable economic enhancement initiative designed to help corps members surmount the menace of poverty and unemployment.
He urged them to avail themselves of the opportunity and learn a skill to enable them stand on their own as entrepreneurs.
Ihedioha used the opportunity to encourage the Corps Medical Personnel in the batch to identify and join the new NYSC Health Initiative for the Rural Dwellers (HIRD) crusade in camp and when they began their primary assignment programme, promising to reward those that distinguished themselves during the service.
Earlier, the NYSC State Coordinator, Mr John Eloeboh congratulated the corps members for successfully completing their various academic programmes in their respecting institutions of higher learning.
He said the service year is a rare opportunity for them to contribute to the overall national growth and development of the state and nation adding that the scheme had remained a major player in youth mobilization and reorientation in the country.
He added that the scheme had contributed in no small measure to the promotion of unity and integration as well as the inculcation of discipline and entrepreneurship among participating youths.
Eloeboh noted that life in the NYSC camp was regimented while the training was to equip them with leadership qualities and prepare them mentally and physical to face the challenges of the service year and post service year.
The state coordinator expressed appreciation to the Imo government for making the camp comfortable and for the promotion of corps members welfare and security.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a total of 957 corps members comprising 453 males and 504 females registered at the camp for the service year.
NAN reports that the high point of the event was the pledge and Oath of Allegiance administered on the corps members by the Imo Chief Judge, Justice Pascal Nnadi, represented by Justice Innocent Njaka of the Ministry of Justice.
Justice Nnadi pointed out that the noble goals of the scheme could only be attained with sincere commitment to dedicated service and humility which formed the guiding philosophy and motto of the scheme.
He advised the corps members to be self disciplined and eliminate what he called enemies of Nigeria which included religious bigotry, tribalism, ethnicity, nepotism, misplaced sense of value, bribery, corruption and other social ills.
(NAN)
