Abia Government on Wednesday rewarded five members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) with state merit awards and cash prizes in recognition of their meritorious service in the state.
The awardees were members of the 2019 Batch ‘B’ & ‘C’, who reportedly distinguished themselves during their primary assignment in remote communities of Abia.
The award was presented to the awardees at a brief ceremony in Umuahia by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Chris Ezem, who represented Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu.
The recipients, Matthew Oluwatobi (Ekiti) and Patrick Nyah (Akwa Ibom) also got cash prizes of N500,000 each, in addition to the Certificates of Merit Award.
Adeola Oluwagbemileke received a cash prize of N300,000, while Sebe Godspower and Babatunde Dayo got N100,000 each, in addition to the certificates.
READ ALSO: Anyone Caught Unlawfully With NYSC Uniforms Will Face 3-Year Jail Term- Service Boss
In a remark, the NYSC Abia Coordinator, Mrs Bona Fasaki, expressed delight that the awardees had contributed their quota to the development of the state during their service year.
She said that Nyah built a two-room bungalow for an indigent widow, while Oluwatobi drilled a borehole for a school in his host community.
She said that Oluwatobi also donated reading desks to the school where he did his primary assignment.
The coordinator said that Oluwagbemileke empowered 26 widows, while Godspower and Dayo were the COVID-19 champions.
According to her, the duo constructed a semi-automated, foot lever, hand washing machine, which was donated to the state for the fight against the pandemic.
She thanked their various host communities for their encouragement to the corps members. She opined that they could not have done what they did without the support and provision of enabling environment by the communities.
She expressed her profound gratitude to Gov. Ikpeazu for resuscitating the NYSC state honours award.
In a remark, Ikpeazu commended the awardees for their “outstanding” performance, saying that they showed the true resilience of the Nigerian youth.
He said: “My administration is poised to reward and honour every outstanding corps member.
“It is in line with this resolve that we recently offered automatic employment to two ex-corps members, who performed excellently during their service year in our state.”