3rd March, 2020
The Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Bello, on Tuesday, restated commitment to the welfare of members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in the FCT.
He gave the assurance in Abuja at the opening ceremony of the 2019 NYSC Sports and Cultural Festival with the theme “Harnessing Youths’ Potential for Sports and Cultural Development.”
He commended the NYSC management for providing a platform for showcasing and developing the talents of the youth.
Bello noted that the importance of the NYSC annual sports and cultural festival cannot be over-emphasized, as it would further contribute to efforts toward promoting national unity.
He said, “the sports competition will not only see to the development of youths but will also encourage healthy interaction among corps members of diverse social-cultural backgrounds.”
The Director-General of the scheme, Brig.-Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim said that the festival was introduced 35 years ago.
Ibrahim said that the aim was to showcase the talents of corps members in sports and culture and to serve as an additional platform for the promotion of national unity and integration.
He said the edition like the previous ones started with preliminary competitions held at various zones across the country which winners emerged for the finals, launched on Tuesday.
The festival features football, volleyball and track events, in the sports segment, while the cultural segment includes contests in drama, cultural dance and comedy.
Ibrahim said that the scheme has given an opportunity to serving corps members and others that completed the national service recently to participate in an NYSC movie titled: ‘A call to Service’, currently under production.
He said that the movie was packaged as tool for public sensitization on the roles of stakeholders in the scheme.
Ibrahim said “I wish to use this opportunity to appeal to football and other sports federations, club owners, as well as captains of the entertainment industry to give interested and talented corps members opportunity to pursue careers in their fields of endeavours.
Meanwhile, 21 states will be participating in the festival, including Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, FCT, Jigawa.