Secretary to the Bayelsa State Government, Alabo Gideon Ekeuwei, has said the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, is the most vibrant and best youth programme in Africa in the last fifty years.

Alabo Ekeuwei, said despite the challenges faced in the last fifty years, the NYSC programme has outlived every other youth scheme initiated in Nigeria and the continent of Africa.

The SSG, who is also the Chairman, NYSC State Governing Board, described the scheme as a key factor for national development and integration.

Alabo Ekeuwei stated this during the Fifty years anniversary lecture at the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Secretariat, Yenagoa, noting that the scheme has become an indispensable factor in the areas of education, healthcare, agriculture and infrastructure as Corps members carry out their primary assignments.

Represented by the Permanent Secretary-General Services, Mr. Anthony Ichobo, the SSG congratulated the NYSC on its fiftieth anniversary, noting that he is looking forward to the next fifty years of the scheme as the champion of national unity, cultural integration and religious tolerance.

In a welcome remark, the State Coordinator, Mrs Charity Okpalifo, on behalf of the Director General, Brigadier General Yusha’u Ahmed, said the theme: NYSC @ 50: Five Decades of Fostering National Unity and Development, which also doubles as the topic for the lecture, was relevant as a result of the immense contribution to the nation.

The guest lecturer, Dr Anderson Nikade, a former staff of the service, and lecturer with the Niger Delta University, Amassoma, commended the management of the scheme for consistently initiating policies to enhance the attainment of its core objectives of promoting self-reliance, patriotism, brotherhood and a shared sense of corporate existence among Nigerians.