From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Following the series of kidnapping incidents that involved some Corps members in recent times, the Director General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier General Yushau Dogara Ahmed on Tuesday cautioned Corps members to avoid night journeys.
The NYSC Boss who gave the charge shortly after the closing ceremony of the 2024 Batch A (Stream II) Corps members in Kaduna urged them to break their journeys once it is 6 pm and look for a safe place like a Police station or barrack to pass the night.
According to him, “We have seen the end of the orientation exercise which happened across the country and the message for these young Nigerians is for them to quickly settle down in their places of primary assignments.
“They were told to respect the tradition, culture, values, and norms of the communities they are posted in so that they know how to contribute their quota to the development of these communities”.
“Secondly, we will continue to tell our Corps members not to indulge in unnecessary journeys and if they must travel, they must avoid night journeys because we have discovered that the night journeys pose a lot of danger to Corps members.
“Once they are travelling and it is 6 pm, they should break the journey and look for a safe place like a Police station or barrack so they can continue their journey the following morning”, he said.
The DG also urged the Corps members to take the Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurial Development (SAED) programme of the scheme seriously even after the 21-day orientation course.
“They should also continue the post-camp SAED so they can create wealth for themselves and the people around them because our thinking is that they don’t look for a job after the service.
“They should be able to have something that they can hold onto and become responsible and independent of themselves.
“We are in collaboration with so many stakeholders who are preparing to give them soft loans which they can use to start their businesses afterwards,” he added.
Earlier, the Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, who declared the orientation exercise closed through the Commissioner for Human Services and Social Development, Hajiya Rabi Abdulsalam, reiterated the commitment of his administration to support the scheme in this state.
He also told the Corps members to be security conscious just as he assured them of their safety in any part of the state they are posted.