The Executive Chairman, Akure South Local Government, Barrister Gbenga Olaniyi has described the National Youth Service Corps as a stronghold which unifies the country.
The Executive Chairman made the statement on Friday when he played to NYSC Ondo State Coordinator, Mrs. Victoria Nnenna Ani in his office.
Barrister Olaniyi observed that the role which NYSC has been playing since it was established has made it a household name and is enjoying the support of well meaning Nigerians.
“Every positive thinking members of the society will know that NYSC is one of the enduring legacies that has ever happened to this country. The impact of the Scheme in establishing and cementing relationship among various ethnicity is legendary”.
“NYSC has transformed various sectors of our economy and to complement the good initiatives and objectives of the programme is to support it so that it can continue to give the nation the very best”.
He promised to look into all the requests placed before the council with a view to assisting it to achieve the mandate of nurturing the graduate youths into becoming better Nigerians.
“NYSC cannot and will not suffer under my watch. The programme has done much to strengthening our cultural diversity whereby youths exchange ideas and learn the tradition and culture of other tribes”.
There is no provramme as potent as NYSC Scheme because it has made Nigerians who served in a particular zone to remain there and contributing to the socio-economic development of the communities”.
“We have several ex-corps members who have made the Sunshine State their second home and have invested in the development of the State which ordinarily would not have been possible if not for the National Youth Service Corps” he said.
Earlier, the State Coordinator, Mrs. Victoria Nnenna Ani had said that her mission to the Council Secretariat is to seek the assistance of the Chairman to solve some challenging issues affecting the Scheme within the Local Government.
Mrs. Ani said that the Executive Chairman should as a matter of constitutional rights set up the NYSC Local Government Committee to address the welfare issue corps members are facing in the council area.
“The Executive Chairman Sir, while thanking you for granting me audience in spite of your very busy and crowded schedules, I wish to request that the NYSC Local Government Committee be established in your Local Government to address some pressing issues”.
“Let me intimate the Executive Chairman with some of the challenges the Scheme is facing. We shall appreciate if the Chairman can look into our accommodation issue as the host Local Government. We shall be grateful if the present place hosting the Zonal Office can be permanently released to NYSC”.
Also, we want to solicit for the assistance of your Local Government towards completion of the SAED Centre under construction at the Zonal Office. If this structure is completed soonest, it would serve the community whereby citizens and residents will benefit from the skill acquisition training at a highly subsidised rate”.
The State Coordinator said that the NYSC Acts detailing the responsibility of the Local Government to NYSC would be made available to the Chairman, and at the same time promised to sustain the relationships existing between the NYSC and the Local Government.