Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara has urged National Youth Service Corps members deployed to the state to embrace selfless, responsible service, describing their service year as “a debt owed to Nigerians.”
He spoke on Tuesday at the NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp in Nonwa-Gbam, Tai Local Government Area, at the closing ceremony of the 2026 Batch C Stream I orientation course. Represented by Dr Promise Oguzie, Permanent Secretary, Cabinet Bureau, Office of the Secretary to the State Government, he told the corps members to integrate into their host communities by respecting local culture and traditions and to contribute to their development. He encouraged them to act as role models and to identify and help solve community problems. “You must be role models and bring solutions to problems rather than creating them,” he said.
Fubara also urged them to take the post-camp Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) programme seriously, saying the training would give them practical skills to become economically self-reliant. He said it offered a chance to “develop the capacity to create wealth and become employers of labour” rather than rely only on paid employment after service. His representative also called for commitment, discipline, and a strong sense of responsibility throughout the service year.
In his farewell address, the Rivers State NYSC Coordinator, Mr Moses Oleghe, praised the corps members’ resilience, discipline, and determination during the three-week orientation. He said the programme had instilled teamwork, patriotism, and active participation in national development, and that they had “developed the culture of participation in nation-building and activated team spirit in putting Nigeria first.”
He urged them to keep these values as they move to their places of primary assignment, noting that their conduct would reflect on the NYSC scheme. “You must be good ambassadors of the NYSC scheme wherever you are posted,” he said.
Oleghe thanked the Rivers State Government, security agencies, and other stakeholders for helping make the orientation a success, and said their cooperation was essential to creating an enabling environment for the corps members during camp.
A total of 3,280 corps members, 1,380 males and 1,900 females, completed the 2026 Batch C Stream I orientation course in Rivers State.
