Despite Boko Haram killings, Nigerian Government deploys 820 new NYSC corps members to Borno

Despite the killing of hundreds of people in Borno in the last month by the outlawed Boko Haram sect, the National Youth Service Corps has deployed 820 new corps members to the state. The corps members will hold their orientation programme in Gombe.  The deployment was disclosed by Margaret Dakama, the Head of the Public Relations Unit of NYSC in Gombe State.

The NYSC is a mandatory one-year scheme by the Nigerian government for all Nigerian university and polytechnic graduates below 30 years, designed to foster unity and national integration. In a statement on Friday, Ms. Dakama also stated that 1090 corps members had been deployed to Gombe. The newly deployed corps members are part of the 2014 Batch ‘A’ group. The statement said that Gombe, a neighbouring and safer state to Borno, was once again hosting corps members deployed to Borno for the three weeks orientation at Malam-Sidi Orientation Camp. Gombe State had also hosted the orientation course of the Borno 2013 batch ‘C’ corps members.

According to the statement, the orientation will commence on March 11 and end on April 1. The NYSC also solicited the support and cooperation of the people of Gombe state in directing participants to the venue of the orientation. The statement revealed that Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe would be the special guest of honour at the opening ceremony.

 There have been significant casualties in Borno and some other northern states since the Boko Haram insurgency began in 2009. This led the Nigerian government to declare a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa in May 2013. Despite the emergency rule however, the attacks by the sect have worsened in 2014.

                It is worth noting that the NYSC is a beacon of unity. The Boko Haram sect has, as part of its agenda the destabilization of Nigeria. To allow this insurgency to derail the aim of national integration would be a symbolic victory for these terrorists. We must not lose sight of the big picture, and the insistence of the NYSC to continue deployment to Borno State is a bold statement: the Nigerian spirit is alive, unbowed and unbroken. (NAN)