The National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, in Nigeria has stated its determination to partner with Fiscal Responsibility Commission to sensitise Corps Members on fiscal governance, transparency and public accountability.

In a statement signed by the Public relations Officer, Adenike Adeyemi said Director General of the Scheme, Brigadier General Shauibu lbrahim stated this when the Director- General of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Barrister Victor Muruako paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Abuja.

The DG noted that the Scheme which was established for the promotion of national unity and integration would continue to leverage on its achievements for the advancement of the socio-economic development of the country.

Brigadier General lbrahim advised all Corps Employers to tap into the potentials of Corps Members to boost the socio-economic development of the country.

He promised that the scheme is ready to collaborate with the Commission through the establishment of Community Development Service (CDS) groups that would sensitise Nigerians on the importance of good governance, transparency and accountability.

Ibrahim said that the Scheme established NYSC Water and Bread factories, NYSC Farms, NYSC Garment manufacturing factories, NYSC Cultural Troupe among others to boost its revenue drive and also train Corps Members with passion in such vocational businesses.

“You need to collaborate to have Corps Members drive your process because they are very versatile and there’s a need to harness their talents.

I also assure you that Corps Members will be available for your agency in form of Community Development Service group so that you can use them because it is better we prevent corruption than to cure it”, he said.

The Chairman Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Barrister Victor Muruako commended the National Youth Service Corps for its tremendous contributions to national development since inception in 1973, especially by living up to its objectives.

He applaud General lbrahim for his transformational leadership since he assumed duty as Director-General, describing the NYSC as the greatest driver of national cohesion among government agencies in the country.

Muruako said that sensitisation on fiscal responsibility should be adopted as one of the CDS programmes to place the youth on a sound pedestal to lead the country well.

He urged leaders at all levels of governance to offer support to Corps Members to unleash their innate abilities for societal development.

The Advisory Board for the Nigeria LNG-sponsored The Nigeria Prize for Literature, has announced “The Girl With The Louding Voice” by Abi Dare; “The Son Of The House” by Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia and “Colours of Hatred” by Obinna Udenwe as finalists for the 2021 competition.

The announcement was made by the Chair of the Advisory Board for the Prize, Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo during a virtual press conference held Friday, August 27, 2021.

The announcement followed the longlist of 11 books released recently out of 202 entries on prose fiction, received for the Prize.

The Nigeria Prize for Literature, Africa’s most prestigious literary award, rotates yearly amongst four literary categories: prose fiction, poetry, drama, and children’s literature.

The three shortlisted novels revolve around strong female characters, different unravelling circumstances and experiences of women in the modern world.

The judges who will decide the winning novel, which will be announced in October 2021, disclosed that the selection of the three novels was unanimous.

The judges, in their report, described the novels as full of suspense and intrigue. They stated that the novels “tell human and indeed universal stories of rural as against urban life, suffering and survival, loss and redemption, decline and renaissance, destruction and reconstruction, and death and rebirth.”

The chairperson of the panel of judges, Professor Olutoyin Jegede, is a Professor of Literature in English at the University of Ibadan. Other panel members include Professor Tanimu Abubakar, a Professor of Literature in the Faculty of Art, Ahmadu Bello University, and Dr. Solomon Azumurana, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Lagos.

The chair of the board, Professor Adimora-Ezeigbo, is a professor of English. She won the 2007 Nigeria Prize for Literature in the Children’s Literature category, alongside Mabel Segun. Other members of the Advisory Board are Professor Olu Obafemi, the 2018 recipient of the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM), playwright, poet and Professor of English at the University of Ilorin, and Professor Ahmed Yerima, a professor of Theatre and Performing Arts, a playwright, theatre director, and a 2006 Laureate of The Nigeria Prize for Literature.

The award will run concurrently with NLNG’s Prize for Literary Criticism. The literary criticism prize carries a monetary value of N1 million.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, is not embarking on industrial action from Tuesday, a member of the National Executive Committee, NEC, of the union has said.

The NEC member, who is also the Chairman of the University of Lagos, UNILAG, chapter, Dr. Dele Ashiru, in a chat on Monday, explained that there are steps and processes for the union to embark on strike.

He, however, agreed that the union gave the Federal Government up till Tuesday, August 31, to meet some demands.

According to Ashiru, “Yes, we gave the government till the end of this month to meet some demands of ours.

“However, assuming that the demands are not met within the stipulated period, we won’t just begin an industrial action that same day.

“The reason is that ASUU is not a one-man union and is not run like a one-man show. If the demands are not met, the national leadership would call a meeting of NEC and report back to it.

“It is at that NEC meeting that the next step would be decided on. As we talk now, no NEC meeting has been called and so the likelihood of a strike starting on Tuesday is not there.

“Our demands from the government are just three. We want the government to sign and implement the renegotiated agreement we have with them;

“That the government should also mainstream our Academic Earned Allowances and to pay the N40 billon Revitalisation Fund,” he explained.

Recall that the union and the FG had a face-off that led to a nine-month strike by ASUU last year.

The strike was called off last December, but up until now most of the promises made by the government are yet to be fulfilled.

Other issues that union wants the government to address are the implementation of the Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System, IPPIS, and the proliferation of universities, especially by state governments in the face of poor funding.