Buhari Offers Automatic Employment, Scholarships to 65 Ex-Corps Members
Doles out cash prizes to each awardee Lists achievements of NYSC at 50 Scheme honours Imo as most friendly state
President Muhammadu Buhari has offered automatic employment in the Federal Civil Service to 65 former members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
He also highlighted numerous achievements of the scheme since its establishment 50 years ago.
Also, as part of activities marking its golden jubilee anniversary, the NYSC would at the weekend honour Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State for his contributions to the growth of the scheme.
Speaking yesterday, in Abuja, at the NYSC 50th Anniversary Honours Award, held at the State House
Conference Centre, the president said out of the 65 recipients, 52 individuals received the Presidential Honours Awards, while the remaining 13 were physically challenged ex-Corps Members recognised under the NYSC Hope Alive programme.
In addition to the employment, Buhari also disclosed that both groups would be awarded scholarships to pursue their education up to the Doctorate Degree level at any university of their choice within the country.
He further announced a cash prize of N250,000 for each of the top award winners and N200,000 for other award recipients, including the physically challenged ex-Corps members under the NYSC Hope Alive Programme.
Consequently, the president issued a directive to the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, the Federal Civil Service Commission, and the Minister of Education to ensure adherence to the employment offer and the granting of scholarships.
Buhari also used the occasion to pay tribute to Corps Members from the batches being honoured, who lost their lives under various circumstances while serving the nation.
He said: "But for their transitioning, some of them might have been here today as part of the honourees. May God grant their souls peaceful repose. They remain our heroes and heroines. The Nation shall continue to remember their sacrifices towards building a strong, indivisible and egalitarian entity".
The president also sympathised with the ex-Corps Members that sustained varying degrees of disability during the service year, acknowledging their significant sacrifices for the progress of the country and assuring them that the nation stands in solidarity with them.
‘‘Your labour shall not be in vain,’’ he said.
The president while congratulating the founding fathers, past and present managers of the NYSC on the Scheme's Golden Jubilee, commended their enduring faith, which has maintained NYSC as a vital platform for mobilising the youth towards national unity and development.
Buhari praised all Nigerians who have answered the call for National Service in the past fifty years for their patriotic zeal and commitment to the NYSC mandate.
He emphasised that it has justified its establishment as an interventionist agency, with a core mandate to foster national unity across the country, thereby breaking down ethnic suspicions and divisions.
According to him: ‘‘The multiplicity of marriages contracted over the years by Corps Members, cutting across the boundaries of ethnicity and religion in no small measure, justifies my assertion."
Buhari also expressed his appreciation to General Yakubu Gowon, the founding father of the Scheme, who conceived the idea of the Corps and brought it to fruition on May 22, 1973.
‘‘The NYSC has continued to afford successive batches of Corps Members as the veritable platform to make meaningful contributions, in the various spheres of our national life,’’ he said.
The president specifically commended the Corps Members for their role in combating the COVID-19 pandemic by producing and distributing essential items such as face masks, hand sanitisers, liquid soap, and providing food and other relief materials to the needy people across the country.
He also applauded their discipline and neutrality when serving as ad hoc personnel for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), including during the 2023 General Elections, which contributed to enhancing the credibility of the electoral system.
Buhari further acknowledged the Corps Members' contributions to the successful implementation of Social Intervention Programme,s such as N-Power and the School Feeding program through beneficiary enumeration.
‘‘I hasten to state without equivocation that with the quality of youths such as these, the future of this country, which rests upon their shoulders, is guaranteed. I give kudos to my dear diligent, patriotic and virile youths. You have done very well; and the Nation is very proud of you.