Abia State Coordinator of the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC), Mrs Ufuoma Dick-Iruenabere, has decried the increasing rate of demands for relocation to other states by Corps members deployed to Abia.
Dick-Iruenabere raised the concerns at the NYSC permanent orientation camp, Umunna, Bende LGA of the state, during the swearing-in ceremony of the Batch C stream 11 Corps members.
The State Coordinator explained that the ugly trend might not be unconnected with the “welfare package unavailable to corps members in the state” and appealed to the state government to intervene on the matter.
She appealed to Governor Alex Otti to allocate a good welfare package for the corps members to reduce the requests for redeployment, noting that 1,698 Corps members, comprising 891 males and 807 females, have been registered to begin their service year in the state.
In his speech, the Director General of NYSC, Brig. Gen. Yusha’u Ahmed tasked the Corps members to abide by the rules of the orientation camp and respect the cultures of their host communities.
He advised the Corps members to make their impacts felt positively in the lives and history of the host community, saying he was in the state to see for himself, how well the Corps members were faring and expressed satisfaction with his observations.
Brig. Gen Ahmed promised that the issues of improved allowances for the Corps members were being looked into by his administration.
In his address, Governor Alex Otti, represented by the State Commissioner for Youths and Sports Development, Mr Nwaobilor Ananaba, commended the NYSC DG for visiting the state and saluted the efforts of the present and past management of the agency in the state for maintaining the visions of the founding fathers of NYSC.
He promised that his administration would always partner with NYSC in its Skills Acquisition Entrepreneurship Development (SAED).
Oath of Allegiance was administered to the Corps members by Justice Benson Anya on behalf of the Abia State Chief Judge, Justice Lillian Abia.