Posted by Jude Owuamanam, Plateau on
Plateau State Coordinator of the National Youth Service Corps, Mrs. Folusho Kolajo, has attributed the high mortality rate among youth corps members to frequent and unauthorised travels, which, more often than not, result in auto accidents.
Plateau State Coordinator of the National Youth Service Corps, Mrs. Folusho Kolajo, has attributed the high mortality rate among youth corps members to frequent and unauthorised travels, which, more often than not, result in auto accidents.
She therefore advised them to travel less and to obtain valid permission before embarking on any journey if it was absolutely necessary.
Mrs. Kolajo, who spoke to our correspondent in an interview in Jos on Thursday, said that the majority of the corps members who lost their lives during the last service year, did so as a result of road accidents.
According to her, the year is a period of serious dedication to the service of the nation and not for jamboree.
She urged the corps members not to jeopardise their future or the investment their parents made in them by careless attitude that might lead to anything untoward happening to them.
She described the scheme as that of self denial since a corps member would have to be posted to a region outside of what he or she used to know.
The coordinator said that, for this year, more than 1,000 corps members had registered for the three weeks orientation exercise.
Kolajo, who used the opportunity to appeal to the Plateau State Government to provide a permanent orientation camp for corps members posted to the state, said that the facilities at the temporary camp could not accommodate the number of those posted to the state.
She expressed disappointment about the inability of the state to have a permanent orientation camp more than 30 years after the NYSC was set up, more so when the founding father of the scheme and former Head of State, Gen Yakubu Gowon, hails from the state.