By Olamilekan FAWAS
The State Coordinator of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Anambra, Mr Kehinde Aremu, has called on the media to de-emphasise reports that threaten the unity of the country.
He made the call when he paid a courtesy visit to the leadership of the Nigerian Union of journalists (NUJ), Anambra Council, in Awka on Tuesday.
Aremu said numerous laudable programmes of the scheme were under-reported, reiterating that the nation’s unity remained one of its cardinal goals.
“Nigeria is presently at a very critical moment. Except we preach good news of the landmark achievement of the scheme, the unity of the country will remain threatened.
“What we hear reported most often are the killings in parts of the country. What about the developmental projects by corps members, marriages among them and those marrying their children?
“There is something unique about Anambra people; many of them do not look for white collar jobs. They are naturally enterprising and have survivalist spirit.
“We intend to work with the media to imbibe this spirit as many corps members are posted here to serve,” the state coordinator said.
Citing the recent award on 11 corps members by the state government for their outstanding performance during their service year, Aremu said reporting such achievements brought joy and fulfillment to NYSC.
“Of all the 11 of the awardees, only one was from the South-East zone. You needed to hear what the rest from other parts of the country were saying about the state, what they did and how they sang the state anthem with passion.
“These things and other developmental projects by corps members and marriages contracted are clearly newsworthy and would gladden our hearts when reported,” he said.
The coordinator expressed optimism that the synergy between the NYSC and NUJ would assist in uniting the country, for which the scheme was established.
Responding, the state NUJ Chairman, Mr Emmanuel Ifesinachi, who described the visit as ‘remarkable’, assured the coordinator of maximum cooperation from the media.
Ifesinachi, who noted that the media would not relent in its duties, however, expressed concern over the current security situation in the country.
“A situation where someone would be deployed to a particular state to serve and will not return alive, is painful and disheartening.
“The Federal Government should do the needful by rising to its responsibility of protecting lives and property of the citizenry to ensure unity, development of the country and to sustain the scheme,” he said.
