Gov. Alex Otti on Tuesday appealed to corps members deployed to Abia for their service year, not to relocate, but join him to salvage the state.
He made the appeal at the swearing-in ceremony of Batch ‘A’ Stream II corps members at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Permanent Orientation Camp, Umunna, Bende Local Government Area.
Otti, who was represented by his Deputy Chief of Staff, Mr Chinedu Ekeke, re-iterated his administration’s resolve to give NYSC the necessary support and encouragement to ensure success of all its goals in the state.
He said: “Do not relocate, stay here let us salvage this state together.
“In Abia, we live the ideals of NYSC, which is be Nigeria first before anything else.
“Recently, this administration appointed one of your own, an ex-corps member in Abia, who is from Edo State as a Permanent Secretary.”
The governor urged the corps members to take all their trainings throughout the orientation course very seriously in order to equip themselves adequately for the service year and beyond.
Earlier in her introductory address, the NYSC State Coordinator, Mrs Gladys Adama said that a total of 1,802 corps members, comprising 811 males and 991 females, were registered for the orientation exercise.
She said that the corps members would be posted to the 17 local government areas of the state, particularly the rural areas, at the end of the 21-day exercise.
Adama, who assumed office as the state coordinator on April 5, said that the camp was in dire need of rehabilitation.
She appealed to the governor for immediate renovation or total rehabilitation of the camp to avoid further structural and environmental depreciation.
The Chief Judge of Abia, Justice Lilian Abai, represented by Justice KCJ Okereke, administered the oath of allegiance on the corps members.(NAN)
