Corps Members
Covid-19: FG mulls mandatory vaccination, as NYSC tells prospective corps members to vaccinate
National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has urged serving and Prospective Corps Members (PCMs) to quickly take advantage of the opportunity provided by the Federal Government by making themselves available for the COVID-19 vaccination currently going on nationwide.
Although the NYSC Management did not rule out making it compulsory for prospective corps members to get vaccinated or be turned back from the Orientation Camps.
This is also as the NYSC announced the extension time of five days for prospective corps members to report to their various Orientation Camps across the country.
Director-General of the NYSC, Brigadier General Shuaibu Ibrahim made the appeal in a virtual seminar organized, Friday, by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in conjunction with the National Youth Service Corps NYSC aimed at sensitising the 2021 Batch ‘C’ PCMs on safety measures adopted to ensure a safe and COVID-19 free Orientation Course Exercise nationwide.
According to the Director General, the NCDC/NYSC partnership has remained strong in the fight against the deadly pandemic and this is evident in the role Corps Members played and have continued to play in public health training, sensitization, production and distribution of facemasks, hand sanitisers, detergents and other disinfectant devices.
General Ibrahim hailed the recent pronouncement by the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19 which had directed that as from 1st December, 2021, no public officer would be allowed into office premises without showing evidence of vaccination.
He therefore advised both serving and prospective Corps Members to ensure that they get vaccinated in order not to run the risk of being caught on the wrong side of this pronouncement, as they would be treated just like other employees in their various places of primary assignment.
He further stressed the need for Corps Members to be change agents and strive to dispel the myth on COVID 19 vaccination, noting that during the recent nationwide doctors’ strike, NYSC Corps personnel were working. ‘We don’t go on strike’, the DG added.
He informed the PCMs that their days of reporting to camp have been spread over five days in order to ensure that there is no overcrowding during registration, just as he enjoined them to adhere strictly to the new extension as indicated on their NCDC form.
Earlier in his address, the out-going Director-General of the NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu welcomed the participants to the Webinar which he said was very important in sensitising the prospective Corps Members on the measures put in place to ensure they are safe from the dreaded COVID-19, as well as educate them on what is expected of them in ensuring that the camps remain COVID-19 free.
According to him, the COVID-19 pandemic which started in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and got into Nigeria in February, 2020, greatly impacted the nation on the two major fronts of public health and socio-economic sphere of life.
The virtual seminar featured question and answer session where panelists educated participants on various issues of concern as regards COVID-19 and safety protocol, especially in an orientation camp scenario.
