By; PATRICK TITUS, Uyo
Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brig. Gen Suleiman Kazuare has said that the organisation has adopted more proactive approaches to check unwholesome practices by both corps members in their places of primary assignment and their employers.
Brig Gen. Kazuare gave the assurance in his keynote address at this year’s NYSC Corps Employers Workshop in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state, today (Wednesday).
Kazuare said under the development, the management has increased the number of regular inspection of corps members at their places of primary assignment to ensure that absentee-corps members are duly sanctioned.
In the same vein, he said, the scheme would sanction corps employers and other persons who may be found liable in aiding and abetting absenteeism and abscondment from service by corps members.
The DG explained that the Corps Employers’ Workshop was not only to appreciate the enduring partnership between the scheme and the employers, but to also identify challenges in corps administration and proffer solutions.
He listed some of the major challenges currently faced by the scheme to include under-utilization, evasion of service as well as inadequate welfare provision for the corps members such accommodation and transport allowance.
In his address, the Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development and Chairman, NYSC State Governing Board, Mr. Monday Uko reiterated the readiness of the State Government to partner with NYSC on resolutions that would make a stronger and more productive youth scheme.
According to him, effective corps administration called for a strengthened zonal and local government administration, while field officers should be more than before deploy the instrument of regular corps inspection to check truancy by corps members and the tendencies of employers to aid corps misconduct.
He also added that neither the operators of the scheme no stakeholders can maximize corps service without regular interaction in addressing contemporary challenges in the administration of corps members.
Earlier in his welcome address, the State NYSC Coordinator, Mr. Julius Amusan said Corps Employers Workshop is a strategy the NYSC management has conceived to enable stakeholders in the youth corps administration brainstorms on issues aim at maintaining and sustaining good working relationship and effective service delivery.
Commenting on the theme of the workshop “Tackling Emerging Challenges in Youth Corps Administration through Greater NYSC/Stakeholders’ Participation” Mr. Amusan assured that the NYSC DG would make effective use of resolutions reached at the forum to address the challenges confronting the service.
