The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has called on critical stakeholders to enhance the welfare and security of corps members during the service year for improved productivity.
Acting Director-General of the NYSC, Mrs Charity Uba made the call at a one-day Corps Employers Workshop organised by the scheme in Owerri, on Friday.
The workshop, themed “Achieving Improved Productivity of Corps Members Through Enhanced Welfare And Security During The Service Year,” was aimed at reviewing the operations of the scheme and identifying areas of low performance with a view to proffering realistic solutions.
The acting DG was represented by the Head of Inspection in the NYSC, Mr Christopher Eze, who thanked corps employers for their efforts at preserving the ideals of the scheme.
Some of the challenges confronting corps members according to her include economic recession, insecurity, lack of accommodation at the Places of Primary Assignment, inadequate remuneration and lack of transit hostels at the state and local council levels.
According to her, the workshop would review the roles of corps employers in achieving the objectives of the scheme and improving the existing relationship between the scheme, corps employers and corps members.
She said: “The unquantifiable of the education and energy imbued in these youths can best be harnessed only when enabling environment is created for them to effectively make their contributions.
“The dearth of welfare and good security for corps members is the bane of improved productivity hence the need to restore the dignity of the service year and sustain the productivity of corps members.
“Together we have held the torch of unity high. We have remained the willing giants upon whose copious shoulders Nigerian youths have stood proudly to peer into a beckoning future.”
Earlier in a welcome address, the coordinator of the NYSC in Imo, Mrs Rachael Idaewor said that the workshop would also be organised in each of the other two senatorial districts of the state.