Ambode pledges financial assistance to outstanding corp members

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State on Wednesday pledged his government’s readiness to give financial assistance to corp members who excelled in the National Youth Service Corp skills acquisition programme.
Ambode made the pledge at the closing ceremony of the Batch A Orientation Course in Lagos.
He was represented at the ceremony by Jemilade Longe, Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Special Duties and Inter-governmental Relations.
He said: “I have been informed of the zeal and enthusiasm with which corp members embraced the NYSC Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Programme in the camp.
“I implore you to take it seriously to master the skills that will qualify you to access loan through the Lagos State Empowerment Trust Fund, established to empower youths to start up and grow their businesses.”
The governor urged the corp members to embrace unity and peaceful co-existence and to avoid hate speech capable of causing division among Nigerians.
He further enjoined them to always remember the major objective of the NYSC is to foster unity among Nigeria’s diverse ethnic nationalities.
Ambode said: “I, therefore, enjoin you to avoid and also preach against hate speech and other divisive tendencies capable of threatening the unity of our country.”
Earlier, the NYSC Director-General, Brig.-Gen. Suleiman Kazaure, advised the corps members to always feel free to disclose their health status to enable the organisation to take informed decisions on issues that could affect them.
Kazaure said: “Corps members with medical issues should always disclose their medical history to enable us to post them close to their doctors.
“There is this fear among them that if they made such disclosure, they would be expelled from the camp; that is not the case.”
Kazaure pledged NYSC readiness to support the Independent National Electoral Commission in the conduct of the 2019 general elections.
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Coordinator, Muhammed Momoh, said that the corps members displayed a high level of discipline and were fully involved in all camp activities.
Momoh advised them to take their primary postings in good faith and be committed in the discharge of their assignment, warning that erring corps members would be penalised.
News Agency of Nigeria reports that 2,794 corps members were posted to Lagos for the 2018 Batch “A” orientation.