By Laju Arenyeka
After nearly a year of service to their fatherland, members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Batch B Division, gathered in their thousands recently in different states across the federation for their passing out ceremony.
The Governor of Lagos State Gov. Babatunde Raji Fashola, in his address read by the Lagos State Commissioner for Special Duties, Mr. Wale Ahmed, commended the corps members for their efforts at some developmental projects which they undertook in their various communities.
According to the governor, "the patriotism and selfless service towards the attainment of the objectives for which the scheme was established about 40 years ago are quite commendable."
Lagos State alone housed about 9100 corps members in the 2011/2012 Batch C Division. Four of them were awarded the prestigious State Honours award, while 33 received certificates of commendation and attestation.
According to the state coordinator, Mrs. Adenike Adeyemi, disciplinary measures of remobilisation were meted upon 19 corps members, who absconded during the course of service while 53 have an extension ranging from two weeks to two months.
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'State Honours' Awardees
At a time when one year of compulsory youth service for graduates has become distasteful to some, a thing of indifference to some others, and an opportunity for professional internship to those posted to the nation's commercial capital, Lagos State honoured four corps members for looking beyond their own personal interest to foster development.
The four recipients of the State Honours award include Otto Orondom Harmony, Oyelaja Olusola Olayenu, Emuveyan Tejiri, and Amaeze Ugochukwu.
Otto during his compulsory service year, championed among other projects the "Net-a-child project," donated hundreds of mosquito nets to hundreds of families in Makoko area of the state. He also carried out what he termed the Slum-to-school project where he championed a scholarship scheme for 118 orphans from Alakoto area of Lagos State.
Otto donated about 500 novels and books to underprivileged children and established Millennium Development Growth (MDG) clubs in two secondary schools. The 25-year-old graduate of Human Anatomy from the University of Port Harcourt also established a rehabilitation home for ex-intercourse workers and supplied land from the Makoko community to NYSC for the establishment of a primary school.
Speaking on his inspiration, Otto said: "Lagos is a very developed place that is why I was shocked to find a community called Makoko while I was moving along the Third Mainland bridge one day. It's a slum where people live in shanties just above the water. Naturally, I was inspired to do something about it."
When asked whether he had been motivated because he expected an award, Otto replied: "I wasn't even aware at first of any awards. So the award wasn't an inspiration for me."
One of Emuveyan's numerous projects was to sink a borehole for the residents of Taiwo Street Idiaraba. She also renovated a classroom into a modern library for students of Golden Secondary School and donated about 50 nets to different families on World Malaria Day. The graduate of the University of Lagos also trained over 600 people in five different communities on MDGs.
According to Emuveyan: "The inspiration for my project came about so many years ago because I schooled around that place and realised that there was such a dire need for clean water. That was why I sank a borehole for them." Speaking on her challenges, she said: "One major challenge I encountered was the fact that it takes a while for people to actually believe in you and in what you are doing."
Vanguard Nigeria