NYSC ORIENTATION CAMP RESUMES IN BORNO AFTER 12 YEARS………….
By: Safiya Abdulrahim Dabban
The National Youth Service Corps NYSC Orientation camp has resumed in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital after more than twelve years of closure.
Declaring the 2023 batch “B” Stream 2 orientation course open, Borno state Governor Babagana Zulum says the resumption of camp activity signifies that peace has returned to the state.
The NYSC Orientation camp in Maiduguri was shut down in 2012 during the height of Boko Haram insurgency.
The edifice was later converted to an internally displaced persons camp, where IDPs from Damboa, Gwoza and Konduga took refuge.
With return of peace to the state, camp activities have resumed with over one thousand one hundred Corps members deployed to Borno state for the one year mandatory service.
Governor Babagana Zulum described the batch B Stream 11 orientation course as historic and special having marked the end of perennial dislodgement of Corps members to the state.
According to him, the absence of Corps members have denied people of the state the right to enjoy auxiliary services from the scheme and the opportunity to share different norms, customs and cultures across the country.
“Today our long awaited desire to forge a formidable partnership with the National Youth Service Corps for a new Borno state has become a reality, task of nation building is a collective responsibility shouldered by all of us. Also salute the courage of the Corps members for taking the bold step of serving in the state” Zulum said.
Governor Zulum promised to engaged the Corp members especially medical doctors and other front line health workers to contribute in critical areas of the state.
He also promised to reconstruct the NYSC permanent orientation camp.
Borno state NYSC Coordinator Comrade Mohammed Adamu said a total of 1,125 prospective Corps members have so far registered, comprising 629 males and 496 females, adding that non have reported any form of security threat in the course of their journey.
The Coordinator commended the military and other security agencies for ensuring that the camp and its environs are safe and secure.
Chairman NYSC Governing Board, Alhaji Mohammed Bukar remarked that the state has been prompt in payment of allowances for the members, urging them not to relocate to other states.
High point of the ceremony was the oath taking by Corps members administered by the representative of the state Chief Judge, Justice Bukar Malgwi.
Correspondent Dauda Iliya reports that event was held at NYSC temporary orientation camp, Umar Mustapha Elkanemi Arabic College Maiduguri.