The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has shut the gates of its orientation camps in the states it deployed prospective corps members to, leaving them stranded after failing to register them on arrival.
FIJ learnt that many of the corps members who fell victim to this were prospective members who the NYSC deployed to Niger and Kebbi and had spent days on the road while journeying to the north from the south.
Some affected prospective corps members had registered for the 2024 Batch B Stream 2 but the NYSC moved them to 2024 Batch C. These prospective corp members should not have received call-up letters until the NYSC released call-up letters after registration for the 2024 Batch B Stream 1 closed. Still, they received it and had little time to prepare for the orientation exercise.
Ebube (not real name), a prospective corps member deployed to Kebbi, told FIJ that he received his call-up letter on Monday. The Kebbi NYSC orientation camp scheduled its opening day for Wednesday.
He could not embark on the journey immediately because of some unforeseen circumstances.
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There was no way he could hit the road the same day he received his call-up letter. The NYSC also prohibited night journeys for corps members due to Nigeria’s ongoing insecurity crisis. Also, he was ill and had to wait to recuperate before embarking on the trip to Kebbi from Lagos. Even if Ebube was not ill and had left on Tuesday, he would still have made it to camp a day after the orientation camp’s opening.
“I received my call-up letter on Monday and was receiving treatment in Lagos at the time. So, I could not leave immediately,” he told FIJ on Sunday.
“I started planning the journey and applied for my medical report, which I would have to tender at the camp. This took three days to be processed, and I decided to leave on Thursday. I was posted to Kebbi from Lagos, so I could not move immediately without planning adequately.”
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Ebube added that he journeyed across nine states to get to Kebbi from Lagos and arrived in Kebbi on Saturday after spending two days on the road.
When Ebube arrived at camp, the NYSC staff members refused to allow him and other corps members who were in the same situation to register because, according to them, the window for registration had only been opened for a short period. They ordered these prospective corps members out of the orientation camp.
“PCMs were escorted outside the camp premises by soldiers today, forcing some to travel back to distant places and risking their safety,” Ebube said.
“I travelled for two days under harsh conditions and still being refused registration. NYSC has not fed any unregistered corps member during this period, screaming a lack of empathy,” he lamented.
When FIJ spoke with Ebube on Sunday night, he was seeking shelter in the mammy market in the orientation camp because it was too late to hit the road and journey back to Lagos.
In a clip FIJ saw on Sunday, a visibly distressed female prospective corps member lamented in tears after the NYSC had ordered them out of the camp.
After registering for the NYSC 2024 Batch B Stream 2, the corps shifted her to Batch C and she later received a call-up letter from the NYSC deploying her to Niger for the 2024 Batch B Stream 2 NYSC orientation exercise. She found this unusual.
“I am reporting from Niger. This morning, they woke us up and asked us to return home. Some of us do not have transport fares. They said we should be going back home,” she said.
“Yesterday, they said we should come by 5:30, that the portal would be opened only for us to get to the hall and they said we should go home. I came from Edo State to Niger, spent more than N40,000 and they said we should be going home. Please help us tag NYSC.”
Many prospective corps members experiencing the same fate as Ebube have taken to social media to call on the NYSC after leaving them stranded.
FIJ emailed the Director-General of NYSC on Monday morning, but he did not respond.
The corps had not responded to multiple phone calls at press time.
The post Corps Members Spent Days on the Road to Get to Camp. NYSC Shut the Gates on Them for Arriving Late appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.