At last, the National Youth Service Corps has bowed to
pressure and rescinded the decision to post 14,850 corps members to troubled
northern states.
It has directed the affected corps
members to report at the NYSC headquarters for redeployment to states
considered safe.
A statement by the Director-General
of the NYSC, Brig.-General Nnamdi Okore-Affia, in Abuja on Wednesday, directed
corps members posted to Bauchi, Gombe, Plateau, Kano and Kaduna states to
immediately report to the NYSC headquarters for redeployment.
This came barely 24 hours after an
earlier insistence by the NYSC that corps members posted to the affected areas
must first report to camp before requests for redeployment could be considered.
Okore-Affia has also directed all
those deployed in Yobe and Borno states to report to new orientation camps in
Nasarawa and Benue states respectively.
The statement reads, “This is to
inform all prospective corps members deployed to Yobe and Borno states for the
2012 Batch ‘B’ Orientation Course to note the following:
“Yobe State prospective corps members
will now hold their orientation course at the Nasarawa State NYSC Permanent
Orientation Camp, Keffi, Keffi LGA, and not as stated on their call-up letters.
“Borno State prospective corps
members will undertake their orientation programme at the Benue State NYSC
Permanent Orientation Camp at Wanume, Tarka LGA, and not as stated on their
call-up letters.
“Date: Thursday 26th July-Thursday
16th August, 2012, as earlier published.
“In addition, all 2012 Batch ‘B’
prospective corps members deployed to Bauchi, Gombe, Plateau, Kano and Kaduna
states who have collected their call-up letters but are yet to report in camp
should immediately report at the NYSC Directorate Headquarters, Abuja for
redeployment.”
The statement is silent on the fate
of those who have already reported in camp in compliance with the earlier
directive.
However, a senior official of the corps
confided in our correspondent that those who had complied would not be
discriminated against.
“Requests by those who responded to
the earlier directive to report will be given expeditious consideration because
we must not send the wrong signals to those who are law-abiding,” the official
who asked not to be named said.
A female youth corps member who
reported in the Plateau State camp confirmed to our correspondent on the
telephone that they were given re-deployment request forms yesterday.
Fourteen thousand corps members were
posted to troubled northern states.
It was revealed that 1,050 corps
members were posted to Borno State, the same number was posted to Yobe State
while Gombe, Kano, and Kaduna states had 2,500 corps members each. Bauchi had
1,500 while 2,300 corps members were posted to Plateau State.