From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The director general of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier-General YD Ahmed, has showered encomiums on the corps members for contributing to the development and transformation of their host communities.
General Ahmed made the commendation at the 2024 NYSC Director-General’s Community Development Service (CDS) award ceremony held on Monday in Abuja, adding that they have excelled in the areas of health, education and agriculture.
The winners of the DG’s CDS Award 2024 include Borno State NEMA CDS, who emerged group best, Adamawa came second with Education and (ICT) while the Taraba State came group third through Legal Aid CDS Group 3rd
In individual CDS award, Akwuobi Ebuka Stephen, who served in Tababa with the 2022 Batch B service year, came third, Matthew Maxwell Ohiare, in Edo State with the 2022 Batch B service year, came second while Abdullahi Alhaji Nuhu with Katsina 2022 Batch A emerged the winner. Wisdom Wealth Nduchika who served in FCT emerged the overall wunner of individual CDS award.
In his speech during the presentation of the award, General Ahmed said: “The contributions of the corps members to the development of their host communities in the areas of health, education, agriculture as well as advocacy on development issues have undoubtedly transformed them into societal custodians and vanguards, which are the salient qualities of visionary leaders.
“Without doubt, the prayers and goodwill of the beneficiaries of their services will remain their bedrock of success and attainment of greatness. As we relish the achievements of these young patriots, and commend their outstanding contributions, which earned them this recognition, I would like to implore serving and future generation of corps members to emulate their lofty gestures. Always strive to leave your footsteps in the sand of times wherever you find yourselves.
“The formal launch of the 2024 CDS activities, which is a key highlight of this occasion, is intended to rejuvenate the commitment of the NYSC staff, corps members and other stakeholders to the programme,” he said.
While defending the award, the DG said: “It is pertinent to note that the whole essence of humanity is anchored on the sacrifices we make to better the lives of others and bring about positive changes in our communities. It is through such services that we forge human connectivity, foster empathy and build a stronger, compassionate, and prosperous society.”
“We are doing everything possible to ensure that the corps members have a seamless collaboration with the host communities.”
On how transparent was the selection process of the award, General Ahmed said: “We actually involved stakeholders that are not necessarily NYSC staff.
Stakeholders are members of a committee we constituted, they are out of NYSC core fold and they went out to see what the corps members put together and came out with the best among the competing others. There was no form of sentiment used in selecting the winners.
“I don’t want to believe that the award is losing its standard because we are still using the same criteria in selecting the winners. It is still popular and it will still remain popular and we will continue to do our best to encourage and motivate the corps members to always impact positively on their host communities where they serve.”
Asked if he has met the target you set for himrself, he said: “I have not actually met the target but I can say that we are making steady progress. I am just one year six months now but I am more than halfway into the target. We will achieve it before the end of the tenure.”