*500 Corps Members redeployed to Kaduna
By; BALA B. BITRUS, Minna
Decay in infrastructure at the permanent orientation camp of the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) in Paiko, Niger State may have forced the managers of the scheme in the state to redeploy the 500 youths corps members posted to the state for their mandatory one year national service programme to Kaduna to avert shame and calamity.
The 500 graduate youths posted to the state and who reported to camp last Monday, were hurriedly rounded up and taken to the Kaduna camp of the National Youths Service Corps for their orientation programme in view of the bad state of the camp ground in Paiko.
The NYSC orientation camp at Paiko which is located some 25 kilometres away from the state capital, Minna, has been in state of disrepair following years of neglect and old age.
The redeployment of the recently posted corps members to the state may have exposed the decriptive and poor state of the camp and also exposed the inability of the state government to put the place in order despite repeated assurances by the state government.
The development which has put the state government in bad light and as a stint on the face of the present administration in the state, may have forced a prompt visit by the state Commissioner for Youth Development along with the Permanent Secretary in the ministry to the NYSC camp for on the spot assessment of the level of decay of the infrastructure at the camp.
Samaila Ibrahim, the Commissioner for Youth Development was told that the camp ground was bereft of almost all the necessary infrastructure and facilities for the comfort and conveniences of corp members.
The Coordinator of the NYSC in the state, Theresa Igbokun Arikoye disclosed that the 2017 Stream II Batch B corp members were quickly redeployed to Kaduna because of the poor state of infrastructure at the camp just as she explained that it was uneconomical to host the just 500 youths corps members posted to the state at the orientation camp hence the decision to relocate them to Kaduna for their orientation programme.
The Commissioner acknowledged that a memo for the repairs and renovation of the camp was presently being processed by his Ministry just as he added that the state government was doing everything possible to ensure that the camp was renovated and equipped with the necessary facilities for the comfort of corp members.
The NYSC state Coordinator however explained that the decision to redeploy the 500 youths corps members who were posted to the state to Kaduna was a temporary measure.
She expressed hope that the state government would soon address the issue of the orientation camp.