From Ron Jacob, Jos.
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) on Monday pledged not to post corps members to crisis prone areas in Plateau so as not to endager their lives.
Mr Abdulsalam Alhassan, NYSC Plateau State Coordinator made the disclosure in a chat with newsmen in Jos..
Alhassan said that the measure became necessary to ensure that no corps member became a victim of attacks in rural communities known to be crisis ridden.
He said in the NYSC’s bid to protect the corps members, it resolved that no one would be posted to volatile areas.
“We have also resolved that corps members will only be posted to local governments considered safe and reachable.
“Already, we have requested for clarifications from the Department of State Services (DSS) in respect of areas considered safe ahead of the postings after the ongoing orientation exercise,” he said.
The coordinator said that most of the postings would be restricted to local government headquarters to ease access to corps members, if the need arose.
He stated that aside volatile areas, “we shall not post corps members to villages that are not accessible because we need to keep in constant touch with them throughout the service year.’’
The NYSC boss further disclosed that corps members serving in Bokkos, Barkin-Ladi, Mangu, Riyom and parts of Jos South Local Governments were evacuated to safety during the various attacks that hit those areas in June.
“We later deployed the corps members to areas considered safer,” he said.
Alhassan said that NYSC was collaborating with various security agencies to keep constant surveillance on corps members’ lodges across the state.
The coordinator assured parents and guardians, whose children and wards are serving in Plateau, of the safety of the corps members, and thanked the state government for the steady support in that regard.