The Director General of the National Youths Service Corps, Brig-Gen Suleiman Kazaure has lamented that the facilities in most orientation camps in the country were obsolete, dilapidated, and grossly inadequate for the increasing corps population.
Speaking on Tuesday at a pre-orientation workshop in Calabar, Kazaure said the scheme, which started with less than 2700 corps members in 1973, was now mobilising over 300, 000 members annually.
“Presently the facilities in most orientation camps are obsolete, dilapidated, and grossly inadequate for the ever increasing corps population. The panacea to the challenge is for all the three tiers of government to live up to the statutory roles in the operations of the scheme. We are encouraged, however, by the efforts of the Federal Government at providing funds in spite of obvious financial constraints,” he said.
Kazaure expressed gratitude to President Muhammadu Buhari for making it possible for all graduates to be mobilised for service in 2016.
“The current management of the scheme is also encouraging stakeholders and other private organisations to complement the efforts of Federal and State Governments in supporting the scheme through Public Private Partnerships as this will provide a veritable platform for corps members to be exposed to the business world.
“In addition, management is giving the skills acquisition programme greater attention in an effort to make corps members job creators instead of seekers,” he said.
Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State, who was represented by his deputy, Prof Ivara Esu, assured the management of the NYSC of continued collaboration.
