As part of activities marking the official visit of the high powered delegation of the National Youth Service Corps of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, led by Brigadier General Yusuf Bomoi, the National Youth Service Scheme officially launched its website recently. Delivering his launch statement at an event held at the Joint Officers Mess, Kotu, NYSC Director General, Brig-General Bomoi, expressed satisfaction with the progress made by the NYSS in the recent past. He noted that the occasion was yet another mile stone in the annals of the NYSS and that it speaks volumes of the efforts of the scheme geared towards empowering the youth.

Brig-Gen Yusuf Bomoi, who spoke at length about the relevance of NYSS, also seized the opportunity to talk about the importance of the website to the scheme, noting that it will help to strengthen the ideals of the scheme. While commending staff of NYSS for what he called an indelible achievement, he promised to support NYSS in all its endeavours.

For his part, Marchel Mendy, NYSS Public Relations Officer said the website that can be browsed on www.nyssgam.org and contains some vital information about the programmes and activities which the scheme and its corps members are involved in.

Further still, he noted that the launch of the website is in line with NYSS’ ardent desire to change the mindset of the people about the scheme and also make known some critical issues of the scheme. “There is no denying that the importance of NYSS is immeasurable. However, a rather small percentage of the Gambian populace know about the existence and its programmes. This among other things prompted the launch of a website for the scheme”, he noted.

While urging people to visit the website, he expressed confidence that all browsers of the website will be adequately informed about what happens within the NYSS by the time they finish browsing.

The embassy of the United States of America in The Gambia recently launched a new website geared towards standardizing US embassies around the world.

The new site, http.banjul.usembassy.gov, is designed to increase customer services and standardize the United States embassy websites around the world.

Having been created to give a detailed and up-to-date information to the general public and    

to the US citizens on wide ranging issues, the new format is more user-friendly, has shorter load-times for those with slow internet connections, and contains information about American citizen services and visa application procedures and US policy.

Importantly, the site is also, among other things, expected to highlight the latest headlines from Washington, embassy news including offices and departments, American citizen services and general information about visas to the United States.

Also to be highlighted in the website is the issue of Non-Immigrant visas for students wishing to attend a university or other academic institution in the United States.

Briefing journalists about the new website on Wednesday, Ms Wendy A. Kennedy, Consular Officer at the US embassy, said the change was considered an important step in improving customer service and standardising US embassy websites around the world.

She added that the old website will be discontinued. She demonstrated the filing of the visa application form to journalists gatherted. "The US Embassy website is most visited by people seeking information about visa applications".

She revealed that the embassy has a special section called the "Visa to the US" that contains all the relavant informations needed to apply for a visa. "More importantly, this  section contains links to the necessary application forms.

For his part, Papa Njie US Embassy Public Diplomacy and Cultural Affairs Assistance,  believed that the informations posted at the site would better the communication between the embassy and the general public. He is of the view that the site would also be useful to journalists.