By Patricia Conteh
The Founder and Chief Strategist for Project 1808, Dr. Alhaji Umar N’jai has called on corps of the National Youth Service (NYS) to reflect on patriotism and transformation for nation building.
“You should have a moment to reflect on what it means to be a Sierra Leonean, to be an African and to think about how we can change things and bring transformation,” he said.
Dr. N’jai was delivering a lecture on “Patriotism for Nation Building” to over 400 NYS Corps at the Peace Operations Training Academy (POTA) in Hastings. This marks the 7thconsecutive year the scientist and Pan-Africanist has been engaging the NYS corps, who are made up of graduates from different universities and colleges across Sierra Leone.
Dr. N’jai described the corps as critical change agents who could make a huge impact on the nation. “To everyone in this room, you are the chosen few. You sit at a very important table or very important place in society,” he said.
Dr N’jai believes that the NYS program is critical for individual and national growth, stating: “you are not just graduate students from universities, but also the fact that you are going through what we call a service. This is critical because it will take you somewhere bigger and greater.”
“The 2-4 weeks you spend here is really supposed to be a transformational process. A process that makes you become better in terms of character, which is the most crucial and most significant thing outside the degrees we get, and the accomplishment,” he added.
Dr N’jai admonished the corps to be agent of positive change through individual actions. “We are at a very critical juncture in our country and the world in general, where our action is needed. Every one of us in this room can be an agent of change in our communities and wherever we find ourselves,” he said.
He concluded by saying: “The NYS is a singular most important act of patriotism that starts from the camp.”
The National Youth Service, which was launched in 2016, and had its first inaugurated batch in 2018, is supervised by the Ministry of Youth Affairs. It is a national programme that promotes youth participation and service in the public and private sectors of society. It aims to provide technical and practical opportunities to qualified graduates from across the country.
