Niger Gov offers doctors corps members, others automatic employment – Daily Trust

The Governor of Niger State, Mohammed Umaru Bago, has announced the offer of automatic employment to members of the National Youth Corps who have studied medicine and other health-related courses to address the shortage of doctors and other medical workers in state hospitals.

Bago disclosed this during the swearing-in of 1,600 youth corps members posted in the state for the 2024 Series ‘B’ Stream 1 at the Permanent Orientation Camp in Paiko, the headquarters of Paikoro LGA of the state.

“We have an automatic recruitment scheme for all medical and health work bodies in Niger State. So once you are in the medical field, you are directly employed by the Niger State Government. So the rest of you should join me on my farm,” he said.

He also announced a donation of N5 billion for the completion of the construction of the Permanent Orientation Camp in Paiko and another N200,000 for the 1,600 youth corps members as a bonus for accepting to serve the state.

“Let me welcome all members of the troops to Niger State. We are agrarian; we are farmers. So, in my conversation wherever I go, I start wondering how anyone can go to university or polytechnic, graduate and expect the minimum wage of N60,000 when in Niger Foods alone, I pay N500,000 every month.

“All corps members serving in Niger State today are entitled to N200,000 bonus from Niger Farms. So you have N200,000 each of you. I understand that you are 1600 in number. So we will credit your accounts with N200,000 each. This is to give you comfort to stay in Niger State.

“Again, to the Director General, NYSC, we want to build a brand new NYSC camp. So today we are putting N5 billion towards your new camp. So Niger State is giving N5 billion to the Minister and the Directorate General to build a new NYSC camp,” he also said.

Bago also pledged to build more toilets and sink 5 boreholes at the temporary orientation camp, adding that the state government would give 20 cows and a load of rice to the corps members to enable them enjoy service in the state .

Bago said the N5 billion to be given to the NYSC to build a new camp and N200,000 to be paid to each of the new corps members was raised through agriculture, saying there was prosperity in agriculture.

“We have invested so much money in mechanized farming because farming is not about hoes and choppers. So you can be on the farms of Niger.

“We have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Sports and Youth Development and the Directorate General of NYSC on how we can push agriculture into the NYSC scheme,” he said.

Minister of Youth Development, Jamila Ibrahim Bio said the Federal Government had launched an initiative to empower at least 5,000 NYSC members with up to N10 million each for entrepreneurial ventures after their service ends.

She said the Restructured Nigerian Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) will start accepting applications this month (July) to enable more young entrepreneurs to access financial support for their innovative ideas.

Earlier, the state coordinator of the scheme, Mrs. Olayinka Abdulwahab, said no fewer than 100 youth corps members were participating in the Niger State Green Economy Project by working on state farms managed by Niger Foods and Logistics Limited.