NYSC members in Oyo community laud World Bank, govt on accommodation

Some members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) posted to the Oba community in Ayete, Ibarapa North Local government area of Oyo State have commended the World Bank and the Oyo State government for their intervention in the accommodation challenges facing corps members serving in the area. The Oyo State government through its agency, […]

Some members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) posted to the Oba community in Ayete, Ibarapa North Local government area of Oyo State have commended the World Bank and the Oyo State government for their intervention in the accommodation challenges facing corps members serving in the area.

The Oyo State government through its agency, Oyo State Community and Social Development Agency (CSDA), in conjunction with the World Bank, had provided financial support for the community to build a 10-room accommodation for the corps members.

Three corps members – Adetayo Adeyemi, Folorunso Thomas and Sidikat Queen – commended the community leaders, the World Bank and the state government on behalf of their mates for their support towards ensuring a befitting accommodation was built for them.

Adeyemi enthused that with the provision of the accommodation, he wouldn’t have any cause to travel beyond the town for weeks. “I am enjoying myself here. We have water, we have a conducive environment and there is security,” he said.

The principal of Baptist Secondary School, Ayete, where the corps members are attached, Mrs Okesola Esther, said the construction of the Corpers’ Lodge had contributed to the reading culture of the students.

“Before now, many of our students found it very difficult to read, while many demonstrated lack of interest in education. But now that the corps members are living close to school, they teach and encourage the students. In fact, they have told the management that they want to begin extramural classes for the students. Hopefully, with their efforts, there will be improvement in our results soon,” she said.

The chairman of the Community Project Management Committee (CPMC), Alhaji Oladele Waheed, told our correspondent that schools in the community lacked competent teachers and the corps members who were supposed to cover up the lapse usually rejected serving in the community once they arrived and discovered there was no toilet in some of the available houses.

Waheed said the parents discovered that many of the corps members were a source of motivation and encouragement for the town’s children, and decided to meet with the management of the CDSA to seek financial support through the state government and the World Bank.

“We met with them and they facilitated the financial support. I am the chairman of the committee that executed the projects. We provided 10 per cent of the total cost for the projects and they gave us the 90 per cent to complete the projects. The projects executed by my committee are a 10-room Corpers’ Lodge with full facilities that include a water project and four motorized boreholes located in different areas of the community. Water was like gold in our community before now. We had to go far before we could get water, but today, water is available for us.”