Boko Haram - NYSC Spends N4 Million on Corps Members' Relocation

Boko Haram - NYSC Spends N4 Million on Corps Members' Relocation

Abdulkareem Haruna
28 July 2011


Maiduguri — National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) may have spent about N4 million on transportation to get the 2011 Batch 'B' Corp members out of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, in view of the insecurity caused by the continuing Boko Haram insurgence.
But NYSC authorities in the state said the circumstance that warranted the total redeployment of the Corps members had been exaggerated beyond the real situation on ground.
NYSC Coordinator for Borno State, Nuhu Kwage, who was not specific about the actual cost of transporting the freshly oriented youth corps members out of Maiduguri to their respective states of origin, said "it will cost the NYSC not less than N4 million."
Director General of NYSC, Brigadier General, Maharazu Tsiga, had two weeks ago ordered that in view of the security challenges in the state, he could not allow the corps members to remain in the state that is being fled by even the residents.
Speaking to Journalists during the closing of the Batch 'B' Orientation in Maiduguri, Kwage commended the courage of the corps
Members, who, despite the pressures from their respective homes kept calm till the end of the two weeks orientation exercise.
"About 140 Corps members that participated in the orientation exercise that just concluded have surprisingly lobbied to be left to remain; so we have posted them to areas outside the crisis zone in the state. But interestingly some of them have even lobbied from outside this camp to be posted to Maiduguri where everyone sees as a hot zone. And this may not be unconnected by the fact that the JTF Commander, had come to assure them that their security is guaranteed because the attacks going on in town is targeted at government and not on private individuals."
He added that "this situation is highly exaggerated and that was why it was difficult for us to convince outsiders that things were calm here in the camp; but those of who are here know that it was not the whole of Borno State that is faced with the crisis; the whole of the crisis being reported happened only within Maiduguri and some little part of Jere, which are only two out of the 27 local government areas of the state." As at the closure of camp, about 93 buses from the public transport were rented to convey the Corps members to their respective states where they are expected to spend two weeks break before reporting for their new postings.