Youth Service graduates awarded scholarships

The Corps members were awarded for top performance.

Youth Service graduates awarded scholarships

President Goodluck Jonathan has announced automatic employment and an award of scholarships to fifty two members of the National Youth Service Corps who distinguished themselves in their primary assignments during the 2011 service year.

Jonathan who made the announcement at the 2011 President’s NYSC Honours Award, said government’s gesture was in appreciation of the award recipients’ contributions to nation- building during their service year.

He said ``For these our young men and women that have worked very hard, let me again congratulate all of you and say that government, in addition to the certificates and the medals we have given to you, we also need to encourage you more so that you do more for this country.”

``For that reason, we are giving you automatic scholarship for Masters and PhDs. Some of you may want to work while processing your admission papers; we’ll also give you automatic employment.”, he added

President Jonathan, however, stated that the scholarships would only be valid for two years as prospective beneficiaries must secure admissions in any part of the world within this period.

He said that the Ministers of Youth Development, Education and Petroleum Resources would coordinate the scholarship awards.

The president expressed the hope that the recognition given to the award recipients would inspire them, and all other youths, to rededicate themselves to the ideals of selfless service and faith in a strong, united and prosperous Nigeria.

He maintained that government on its part was resolutely committed to providing the requisite enabling environment to allow the youth to blossom and to optimise their evident capacity to drive the national transformation agenda.

Subsidy funds investment

``That is why a key element of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE) is the provision of massive employment opportunities across the economy for our teeming youths,’’ the president said.

Jonathan also noted that the NYSC/MDGs War against Poverty initiative had led to the emergence of budding entrepreneurs in the agro-allied small scale industry as more than 1000 former NYSC members had accessed the investment funds provided under the programme.

According to him, Federal Government will continue to keep faith with the ideals of the NYSC scheme by providing the requisite support to enhance its capacity to deliver on its core mandate.

The president appealed to all Nigerians, especially the youth to always shun acts capable of distracting the government from its onerous task of facing the nation’s security and development challenges.

``It is in this light, and in relation to recent happenings in parts of the country, that I warn that any and all acts which fan the embers of discord and threaten the corporate existence of our nation will be vigorously checked by all lawful means.’’

In his remarks, the Minister of Youth Development, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, expressed appreciation to the Federal Government for the increment in the monthly allowance of NYSC members.

He called on states and local governments, traditional rulers and communities benefiting from the services of the NYSC to devise means of ensuring the safety of lives and property of corps members in their domains.

The Director-General of the NYSC, Brig.-Gen. Nnamdi Okore-Affia, had earlier narrated the story of the President’s NYSC Honour Award ceremony.
He said that the award was designed to confer and deepen self-fulfilment in exemplary members of the corps and inspire higher performance in both serving and prospective ones.

According to him, for the 2011 edition, a total of 235 nominations were received from NYSC secretariats in the 36 states and the FCT, from which the 52 award recipients were selected as winners.

The director-general identified ever-increasing corps population and its implications on running cost; inadequate orientation camp facilities; declining stakeholders support and heightening demands for corps members’ safety as some of the challenges facing the scheme.

NAN/Ugo