The Director of Mobilisation of the National Youth Service Corps, Anthony Ani, on Friday announced changes made by the agency to protect the lives of Corps members posted to the crisis-prone areas in the country.
During a conversation on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, he said; “The NYSC has taken precautionary measures to make sure that none of our corps members is affected in the security situation that is taking place in some parts of the country.”
Hence, the Youth Corps members posted to Borno State will have orientation programme in Nasarawa State, the official disclosed.
“Those deployed to Yobe will be having the orientation at FCT. Those that have been deployed to Adamawa will be having theirs in Niger State.” He added that a recent decision was also taken to ensure that corps members deployed to Bauchi have their orientation in Plateau State, while those deployed to Jigawa State move to Kaduna, and those deployed to Kano head to Kogi State.
Over 97,000 prospective Youth Corps members have been drafted for the orientation programme set to commence on August 5, but for Corps members who have been re-posted to the aforementioned States, the programme would commence on September 1, after which, those originally posted to those states would have completed their programme, on August 26.
According to him, all security agencies in the country have been informed about the changes and they had started monitoring all the camps.
Ani explained that changes have been made to “safeguard all prospective Corp members”. He added; “We want to avoid any incident that will result in the loss of life or any injury on our Corp members.”
He also stated that all Corps members would be adequately sensitized about security situations wherever they are and given the phone numbers of the DPOs, Commissioner of Police, and other agencies, in case of security threats.
Ani disclosed that the agency had set up a distress centre in Abuja and distress calls made to the centre would be connected to the nearest security agency. In addition, all security agencies have been told that Corps members’ lodges and other accommodations must be protected.
The host communities have also been sensitized to treat the Corps members as their relatives.
