Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti has directed the Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development, Mr. Nwobilor Ananaba, to visit the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) camp in Umunnato, Bende Local Government Area, to ascertain the extent of deterioration to fix the same.
Governor Otti gave the directive on Friday when he played host to the State Coordinator of the NYSC in Abia state, Barr. Mrs. Gladys Adama, and her team, among whom were corps members, who visited him.
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The Governor expressed shock to learn how bad the condition of the camp had become, after listening to Mrs. Adama, who calmly articulated all the issues in her address to the Abia Chief Executive, chief press secretary to the Governor, Kazie Uko said in a statement on Saturday.
He quoted the governor to have promptly issued a directive to the Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development, who unfortunately was unavoidably absent at the meeting, to work with the NYSC State Coordinator to immediately attend to the issues enumerated in order to restore the camp into a decent and secure environment.
Governor Otti restated that it is in the character of his government to ensure that the welfare of the people come first, adding that anyone who lives and serves in the State is considered an Abian.
“I have taken note of all the points you raised, including the well-being of the five thousand youth corps members, office accommodation, the challenge of fencing the camp, ambulance, the Coordinator’s residence, and, of course, payment of allowance by the State.
“We are going to look at them,” Governor Otti, who said that there was nothing like payment of allowance by the State during his days as a corps member, promised.
Earlier in her speech, Mrs. Adama, who reported that there are over five thousand corps members deployed to the state and working in various sectors, regretted that the facilities in the NYSC camp were left to deteriorate by previous administrations without maintenance.
According to her, the Coordinator’s residence and other structures in the camp are all in bad shape with the walls cracked and the roofs leaking. She said a large portion of the camp’s perimeter fence had fallen off, while the football pitch is also in bad condition.
She appealed to the State Government to consider paying corps members deployed to the state monthly allowances to serve as a morale booster.
