The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs have agreed to partner in providing free healthcare services to women and children in rural communities across Nigeria. The partnership was one of the major outcomes of a courtesy visit by the NYSC Director-General, Brigadier General Olakunle……
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs have agreed to partner in providing free healthcare services to women and children in rural communities across Nigeria.
The partnership was one of the major outcomes of a courtesy visit by the NYSC Director-General, Brigadier General Olakunle Nafiu, to the Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, at the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja.
Speaking during the visit, Nafiu said the Scheme has a large pool of healthcare professionals serving across the country who can support the ministry’s healthcare interventions.
According to him, NYSC doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, optometrists, dermatologists, physiotherapists and medical laboratory scientists have been offering free medical services in underserved communities through the Health Initiative for Rural Dwellers (HIRD), which was launched in 2014.
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He added that the recent donation of two mobile medical clinics to the Scheme by the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, would further strengthen the proposed partnership.
The NYSC Director-General said the clinics could be deployed to improve access to free medical screening and treatment for women and children, thereby helping to reduce maternal and child mortality.
Nafiu also proposed a partnership on skills acquisition, saying the ministry’s training facilities could support the NYSC’s Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) programme.
“We are ready to explore opportunities within the Ministry, particularly the use of your training facilities, to strengthen our Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) programme. Our Corps Members will, in return, empower women in their communities by equipping them with vocational skills through which they can earn sustainable incomes to support their families,” he said.
He also highlighted the Scheme’s longstanding support for the ministry during International Women’s Day and Children’s Day celebrations through cultural performances and public sensitisation activities by Corps members.
Responding, the Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, described the visit as historic, saying stronger collaboration between both institutions was long overdue because of their shared commitment to improving the lives of Nigerians.
She said the ministry was ready to work with the NYSC across all the proposed areas, stressing that inter-agency collaboration remains one of the most effective ways to achieve sustainable national development.
To ensure the partnership takes off effectively, the minister proposed the appointment of focal persons from both organisations to develop a framework that would guide the collaboration.
Sulaiman-Ibrahim also praised Nafiu’s leadership, describing him as “a quiet achiever whose stewardship has brought stability to the operations of the Scheme.”
She further described the NYSC as one of Nigeria’s most valued national institutions.
“There is hardly anyone who has not passed through the NYSC. It is an institution that is very dear to all of us. My own daughter is currently serving, and I appreciate how important the Scheme is to her and to the nation,” the minister said.
