Katsina State government has honoured three members of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, with N1million each for their excellent performance in their various host communities.
The Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development, Alhaji Aliyu Lawal-Zakari disclosed this while presenting the cheques to the corps members in Katsina, yesterday.
The corps members are Hafsat Abdulhamid-Abdulsalam, Nafisa Umar-Hassan and Blessing Eneh-Ameh.
Lawal-Zakari, who is also the Chairman of the State NYSC Governing Board, said the award was approved by Governor Dikko Radda.
According to him, the gesture is aimed at encouraging other corps members to put in their best in the development of their host communities.
The commissioner added that henceforth, the state award of excellence for the best corps members would be sustained.
He, therefore, called on other serving corps members, especially the males, who hardly show much interest in community development service, to begin to show interest.
Lawal-Zakari disclosed that a plan by the State NYSC Coordinator, Alhaji Ibrahim Sa’idu and the state government, is ongoing to give the corps members automatic employment.
According to him, the gesture is to show appreciation for their commitment to the unity and development of the country, and also to motivate others.
He also disclosed the possibility of sustaining such automatic employment for the best three corps members.
The commissioner also said the state government had sent money to the families of two corps members that lost their lives while serving in the state.
Earlier, the state NYSC coordinator said the corps members deserve the honour because they executed community oriented projects that benefitted the people of their host communities.
According to him, due to the commitment, one of the corps members, Umar-Hassan, was given a chieftaincy title (Sarauniya Bautar Kasan Kaita Na daya), meaning the Queen of Corps Members, in Kaita Local Government.
Umar-Hassan also trained and supported 20 vulnerable women on how to rear chickens and constructed a motorised borehole at the emir’s palace in Kaita.
Umar-Hassan, who is from Kaduna State, provided 100 pupils with school uniforms, while Abdulsalam built a borehole at Dandagoro community and conducted awareness campaign on tuberculosis in her host community.
On her part, Eneh-Ameh assembled 50 pregnant women and sensitised them on hygiene.
Sa’idu said the benefitting communities where the corps members executed the projects would continue to remember them.
The coordinator thanked the state government for the hospitality that the corps members enjoyed and requested for sustainability.
