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FG Plans NYSC Reforms
The Minister of Youth Development Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, on Wednesday in Abuja, said that plans were underway to make the NYSC scheme go beyond mere national orientation.
The minister who spoke at an interview session with newsmen said the NYSC needed to be transformed for national service and rural development.
Abdullahi said that over the 38 years of the scheme, the aim had been just national orientation and integration, stressing that time had come when the scheme ought to become more beneficial.
He stressed that in as much as the nation still needed national integration; there was a need for corps members to also benefit from the scheme in terms of skills acquisition and knowledge.
“Beyond this, in 2012, we are saying that we must find other justification for the NYSC beyond national integration, even as important as national integration is.
“There is no point going to school for four years or five years or years then coming out to give one year of your life to the NYSC: a scheme that you consider to be a waste of time anyway as most young people think the NYSC is now.
“We have to transform the NYSC into an NYSC of national service and national development which was the original idea behind the NYSC; beyond national integration it’s also for rural development.
“When young people serve their country for one year, what do they get in return? So in that context, we say okay we can use that one year to also give certain skills to them that are marketable.”
The minister said that additional training to be received during the service year, such as business management courses, would help to fill some of the academic gaps some university and polytechnics graduates came out with after school.
He added that the vision of the ministry and that of the NYSC was a situation where when an applicant presented the NYSC discharge certificate, employers would be able to employ them due to the capacity acquired during the service year.
He hinted that there were MBA programmes that could be delivered in the course of the one-year service and as such, youths would have something tangible to present while searching for jobs after the service year.
The minister, however, stressed that the aim of transforming the scheme was not to de-emphasise national re-integration, stressing that there was now a growing need to emphasise national re-orientation and integration.
“The national youth service, 38 years after, is still as relevant today as it was then: Nigeria was coming out of the civil war and the NYSC was set up as a tool of national re-integration.
“A recent survey reported that only 25 per cent of Nigerian young people polled saw themselves first as Nigerians, more than 50 per cent actually identified themselves first with their religion, then their tribe.
“That makes it quite critical that we need to strengthen platforms like the NYSC for achieving national integration.”
Abdullahi also said that as part of the transformation, corps members would be posted to only four sectors of the economy considered relevant to the scheme and to national development.
He said that the usual practice where corps members were posted to banks, oil companies and other agencies to be exploited and dumped after the one-year service would be a thing of the past.
The minister, who declined to name the four sectors, said waivers would only be granted if it had been proved that an organization making request for the deployment of a corps member was prepared to employ such person after the service year.
“The NYSC is not an apprenticeship scheme; the NYSC is not an internship scheme; it is a service scheme and it is a compulsory service scheme.
“So we are going to make sure that the posting of NYSC would be to those sectors that Nigeria needs them; we have written to the relevant ministries, only four ministries; corpers will be posted only to four sectors now.
“So all these posting corpers to oil companies, posting corpers to Aso Rock, posting corpers to government house, will not happen anymore.”
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Our Legacy’ll Leave Lasting Impression On Rivers People -Fubara
Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has assured that his administration will collaborate and continue to consult widely in delivering a liberated State experiencing enduring peace.
Fubara said, in doing so, he would not operate as a dictator but as a member of a team that has the best interest of the State at heart and determined to leave a lasting legacy that can be celebrated.
The governor spoke during the formal presentation of Certificate of Recognition and Staff of Office to the Amanyanabo of Okochiri Kingdom, King Ateke Michael Tom, as first class tradition ruler, at Government House in Port Harcourt, yesterday.
Fubara stated that, during the Sixth State Executive Council meeting, N80.8billion was approved with 50 percent contract value paid already as the Government awarded the construction of the Elele-Egbeda-Omoku Road.
He said the project will be funded from the savings from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to underscore his administration’s prudence without also borrowing to complete the project.
“We are at a crossroad in our State where we all need to stand for what is right. It happens once in a life time. So, for now, be one of those people that will be in the course to liberate and free our dear State.
“And I know strongly that having the support of a peace-loving Amanyanabo of Okochiri Kingdom, having the support of the wonderful Council of Chiefs, having the support of the great people of Rivers State, we will bring peace in our State. We will do those things that are right to develop our State.
“We will continue to consult. We will not act as dictators. We will act as people who know that one day, we will leave, and when we leave, the way we have acted will speak for us. We will not force people to talk good about us. Our legacy will be a signature for how we led”, the governor said.
Fubara explained that he acted within the ambit of the law to upgrade the traditional stool upon which King Ateke Tom sits in recognition of his efforts in promoting peace in Okrika, and indeed, the State, and urged him to continue to do justice to everyone.
In his speech, Commissioner for Chieftaincy and Community Affairs, Hon Charles Amadi, congratulated King Ateke Tom for being formally presented with the Certificate of Recognition and Staff of Office as first class traditional ruler.
Also speaking, former Transport Minister, Chief Abiye Sekibo, thanked the governor for fulfilling his promise of upgrading the traditional stool of Okochiri Kingdom, and pledged the support of Kirike Se people to his administration.
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We’re Determined To Leave Legacy Of Quality Education -Fubara
Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has promised to give the best attention to the education sector so that standard and quality learning will never be compromised in the State.
The governor emphasised that in achieving such legacy, schools in the State will be driven with a curriculum that will equip school-aged children to become competitive, innovative and self-reliant.
Governor Fubara made the assertion while inaugurating the Governing Council of Rivers State University at Government House in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.
He said: “There is a lot of noise everywhere: people asking what we are doing; that we are not focused, and that we don’t have direction.
”But I want to tell the world that we are focused and aware that we cannot grow if our energies are not channeled to education. Not just education, but purposeful education.
”Education that is creative. Education that gives you independence. We have left the era in the world when you speak too much grammar. We are in such times when it is what you can do with your hands.
”Our purpose for education is that we should bring back our academic programmes to where, at the end of your studies, you don’t need a job but you create jobs. When one creates a job, you automatically employ others. That is what I want this council to see as their task.”
Governor Fubara noted the non-existence of public secondary schools for the male child in the Diobu axis of Port Harcourt.
He said such negligence leaves children in that area who have completed primary education, and whose parents cannot afford sending them to far away secondary schools, to roam the streets, and therefore becoming willing tools for criminality.
Governor Fubara assured that such fundamental problem will be addressed by his administration as a measure to curb the negative impression associated with Diobu axis of Port Harcourt.
The governor said he trusts in the capacity of the members of the Governing Council of Rivers State University to bring about positive change in the institution while also contributing their quota to improving the general education standard in the State.
”I charge you, not just in terms of administering the affairs of the university, but let us add something different from the normal things that we already have to see new things.”
In her response, on behalf of the other members, the Pro-Chancellor of the Governing Council of Rivers State University, Justice Mary Odili (rtd), thanked the governor for finding them worthy to serve in such capacity.
Justice Odili assured they will work assiduously as a team to solve the problems that agitate the mind of the governor and ensure their contributions form part of the legacy that will be bequeathed by his administration.
The members included Justice Mary Odili (rtd) as the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council with Barrister Mela Oforibika and Chukwuma Chinwo, Esq.
Others were Adata Bio-Briggs, Esq., Dr. Jonathan Nimi Hart, Ngo Martins-Yellowe, Dr. Nancy Nwankwo, Dr. Igoni William-Park, and Mr. Ogbugbu Barisua.
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Fubara, Others Eulogise Rivers First Lady’s Mother
Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, his Deputy, Prof Ngozi Odu, and key stakeholders of the State on Wednesday paid glowing tributes at the Service of Songs held in honour of late Mrs Adeline Jaja, mother of the wife of the Governor, Lady Valerie Fubara, at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, Mile 1, Diobu, Port Harcourt.
Speaking at the event, Governor Fubara described his late mother-in-law as a great and visionary woman who lived on truth and conviction in what she believes.
“Mama was a great woman. She wasn’t a materialistic person. When she believes in you, she’ll be all out for you. She stood for me. I feel pained that, like my own mother, she left at this moment.
”Mama believed so much in God, and the wonders of God. I thank everyone, particularly the Church. On behalf of the bereaved family, we will support the Church to immortalise her name,” the Governor said.
In his homily, Vicar of the Church, Ven. A. A. Ijon-Ama, who spoke on the gains of death, said physical departure from earth was not an ultimate end but an opening for higher and permanent gain and perfection.
He pointed out that when a man has a good relationship with God, he stands to gain more in death.
Ven. Ijon-Ama described late Mrs. Adeline Jaja as a devout Christian, who exuded deep sense of hospitality, and endowed with accommodating spirit, noting that she will be greatly missed by all.
The Vicar, who prayed for the repose of the soul of Mrs Adeline Jaja, also solicited for Divine fortitude for the family to bear the great loss, and called for the immortalisation of the deceased to keep her good legacies alive.
Some family members, who spoke at the Service of Songs, extolled the virtues of the deceased, describing her as “a great community leader, counsellor, peace maker, and caring mother, who provided for the needy, and participated actively in Church activities.
Highlights of the event were special prayers for the bereaved family, conducted by the Anglican Bishop of Evo Diocese, Rt. Rev. Innocent Ordu; remarks by key family members, choir ministration, among others.
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