NYSC Still Posts 820 New Corps Member To Troubled Borno State

Despite the killing of hundreds of people in Borno in the last one month by the outlawed Boko Haram sect, the National Youth Service Corps has deployed 820 new corps members to the state. The deployment was disclosed by Margaret Dakama, the Head, Public Relations Unit of NYSC in Gombe State. The NYSC is a mandatory one-year scheme by the Nigerian government for all Nigerian university and polytechnic graduates below 30 years. In a statement on Friday, Ms. Dakama said 1090 corps members were also deployed to Gombe. The newly deployed corps members are part of the 2014 Batch ‘A’ group while their orientation course will be held in Gombe. The statement said that Gombe, a neighbouring and safer state to Borno, was once again hosting corps members deployed to Borno for the three weeks orientation at Malam-Sidi Orientation Camp. Gombe State had also hosted the orientation

course of the Borno 2013 batch ‘C’ corps members. According to the statement, the orientation will commence on March 11 and end on April 1. It also asked for the support and cooperation of the people of Gombe state in directing participants to the venue of the orientation. The statement stated that Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe would be the special guest of honour at the opening ceremony. Thousands of people have been killed in Borno and some other northern states since the Boko Haram insurgency began in 2009. This led the Nigerian government to declare a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa in May 2013. Despite the emergency rule however, the attacks by the sect worsened in 2014, particularly in Borno, but also in Yobe and Adamawa, leading to the death of hundreds of people and the burning of thousands of houses and vehicles by the outlawed sect.