ONCE again, the able-bodied young graduates of our beloved country have been called to duty.
The National Service Scheme has deployed 60,350 young graduates to all sectors and all parts of the country, for the 2011-2012 service period.
We understand that the scheme received 80,586 requests from organisations which need them. This indeed, shows that prospective national service personnel are hot cakes.
Established in 1973, the scheme has the core objectives of undertaking projects designed to combat hunger, illiteracy, disease and unemployment in the country, helping to provide essential services and amenities, particularly in the rural communities and developing manpower, through training.
The scheme provides practical experience, builds skills and inculcates the habit of patriotism in the young graduates, to prepare them for the challenges of life.
It also helps to address manpower shortages in many sectors of the economy, and fills the short fall in the number of teachers required in many of the basic and senior high schools across the country.
Indeed, national service personnel dare where others refuse or fail to go! The deployment of the country’s young graduates throughout the length and breadth of the country, we believe, has enhanced national unity and integration.
Significantly, the Community Improvement Unit of the scheme has contributed greatly in helping to address the needs and aspirations of the rural folks, through the provision of potable water from their borehole services and basic amenities like KVIPs, among others.
Service personnel have returned from the national assignment outside their familiar environments with fond memories of their duty stations.
With this background of laudable ideas behind the national service concept in mind, the Times is worried that some prospective service personnel refuse postings to the rural deprived areas, occasioned by prejudices borne out of ignorance.
The attitude of this minority of service personnel, defeats the purpose of the concept, which seeks to offer opportunities to young graduates to taste other aspect of life, by moving away from one’s home to relatively unfamiliar grounds, to have a better understanding and appreciation of the socio-cultural aspects of one’s country.
It is worthy of mention that the national service concept was not an imposition by the government, but arose out of agitations by youthful and exuberant graduates in the 70s, to be allowed to contribute their quota to national development.
We wish to encourage the young graduates not to renege on their obligation to serve their country, despite the challenges, and advice the management of the scheme to continue to work assiduously with other stakeholders to ensure that service personnel receive their allowances and other incentives on time to motivate them to give of their best.
The National Service Scheme has deployed 60,350 young graduates to all sectors and all parts of the country, for the 2011-2012 service period.
We understand that the scheme received 80,586 requests from organisations which need them. This indeed, shows that prospective national service personnel are hot cakes.
Established in 1973, the scheme has the core objectives of undertaking projects designed to combat hunger, illiteracy, disease and unemployment in the country, helping to provide essential services and amenities, particularly in the rural communities and developing manpower, through training.
The scheme provides practical experience, builds skills and inculcates the habit of patriotism in the young graduates, to prepare them for the challenges of life.
It also helps to address manpower shortages in many sectors of the economy, and fills the short fall in the number of teachers required in many of the basic and senior high schools across the country.
Indeed, national service personnel dare where others refuse or fail to go! The deployment of the country’s young graduates throughout the length and breadth of the country, we believe, has enhanced national unity and integration.
Significantly, the Community Improvement Unit of the scheme has contributed greatly in helping to address the needs and aspirations of the rural folks, through the provision of potable water from their borehole services and basic amenities like KVIPs, among others.
Service personnel have returned from the national assignment outside their familiar environments with fond memories of their duty stations.
With this background of laudable ideas behind the national service concept in mind, the Times is worried that some prospective service personnel refuse postings to the rural deprived areas, occasioned by prejudices borne out of ignorance.
The attitude of this minority of service personnel, defeats the purpose of the concept, which seeks to offer opportunities to young graduates to taste other aspect of life, by moving away from one’s home to relatively unfamiliar grounds, to have a better understanding and appreciation of the socio-cultural aspects of one’s country.
It is worthy of mention that the national service concept was not an imposition by the government, but arose out of agitations by youthful and exuberant graduates in the 70s, to be allowed to contribute their quota to national development.
We wish to encourage the young graduates not to renege on their obligation to serve their country, despite the challenges, and advice the management of the scheme to continue to work assiduously with other stakeholders to ensure that service personnel receive their allowances and other incentives on time to motivate them to give of their best.
