Governor Chukwuma Soludo has congratulated the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme for its role in national unity and development in the past five decades.
Soludo, represented by Ernest Ezeajughi, his chief of staff, said this while declaring the orientation courses for 2023 Batch A Stream II closed at the Mbaukwu/Umuawulu permanent camp.
The governor commended the new corps members for their active participation in the orientation exercise and charged them to give their best to the state as they proceed to their places of primary assignment.
He urged the corps members to justify the huge investment of the Federal Government by taking advantage of the different activities and training, including those programmes designed to make them economically viable and relevant in society.
"The Anambra State Government has adequate plans and welfare for you. Ndi Anambra in their usual hospitable nature are all aware and are waiting to integrate you into their fold.
"You are required to respect the culture of your host communities and be ready to contribute your quota towards their developmental agenda.
"In Anambra State, we have a tradition of rewarding hard work at the end of the service in the form of different awards and the process for the selection starts right from the camp," he said.
In her address, Ekene Iruma, the coordinator of NYSC in Anambra, said the corps members had been wonderful during the orientation exercise in the past three weeks and were well-motivated to go to the communities.
Iruma who described the orientation as action-packed said the drills, lectures, and intensive training on Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) had no doubt exposed the corps members intellectually and physically.
According to her, in a few day's time – precisely on May 22, NYSC will clock 50 years. This historical event, tagged 'NYSC@50 Celebration' incidentally coincides with the dawn of your service year, and this has distinguished your Batch as a special golden age corps members.
"I, therefore, urge you to endeavour to put the lessons learnt from the training into practice in your different places of primary assignments, I urge you to integrate and impact positively on your host communities.
"Your predecessors made huge contributions to national unity, integration and development in the last five decades; so, golden age corps members, this is your time to go beyond the ordinary," she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that no fewer than 1,600 corps members were sworn in for the orientation course in Anambra.