Investigations by our correspondents revealed that out of the 13,226 corps members that were initially posted to Zamafara, Plateau, Gombe, Bauchi, Katsina, Kano and Kaduna State, during the last batch (batch B) of orientation, only 6530 representing less than 50 percent retained their initial postings to stay in the north.
The situation has left many affected states which normally rely on the corps members for teachers and medical personnel under difficulty, as they are made to cope without them.
The 6696 corps members who redeployed their services were said to have taken advantage of the directive to grant members seeking redeployment in highly volatile states posted to relocate to other parts in the country.
In Zamfara State about 50 percent of the corps members deployed to the state for the batch B of the 2012 NYSC have redeployed. Most of the redeployed corps members were from South-South, South-West and South-East geo-political zones of the country, our correspondent learnt.
Greenwich News gathered that larger percent of the redeployment were carried out at the headquarters of the NYSC in Abuja.
Zamfara State NYSC coordinator, Mrs. Ruth Bakka, said out of the 1945 corps members posted to the state, 819 of them have redeployed.
“Though we don’t have any security challenge here in Zamfara State, parents kept seeking redeployment for their children. So far, 819 have left while 58 new ones came in from other states. Zamfara is peaceful and we are praying that the peace be maintained,” she said.
The state commissioner of Information, Ibrahim Birnin Magaji described the situation as a serious challenge.
He said the mass relocation of corps members is having negative impact on the state because they have been assisting in schools and hospitals.
In Bauchi, the state NYSC coordinator, Mr. Nuhu Kwaghe refused to comment over the deployment issue. But a senior official of the NYSC said out of the 1, 352 batch B corps members posted to the state, 711 had sought and got redeployment. This figure represents more than half of the total number posted to the state.
The source said at the end of the orientation of the batct B, 411 corps members were redeployed to other states. But at the time he spoke to journalists, he said the number had risen to 711.
Our correspondent in Kano reports that since January when the state came under attacks that left hundreds of people dead, many corps members have been making attempts to avoid being posted to the state. For those who were already posted over the months, most of them have relocated for security concerns.
Recently, more than half of the 2012 Batch ‘B’ corps members who were posted to Kano had relocated to their home states or to other states in the southern part of the country and Abuja for security reasons. This was confirmed by the state coordinator Alhaji Bashir Salisu Yakasai.
“Out of about 2,150’ corpers posted to Kano about 1,336 have relocated for security reasons. This constitutes about 55 percent of all the applications we received for relocation. The rest of the relocations were based on health, marital or other reasons,” he said.
In Plateau State, as at the time the Batch B orientation was being rounded off, 802 of the 1750 NYSC members posted to the state had asked for redeployment to other states. Thirty others later changed their mind to stay back, bringing down the number of those who opted out to 772, leaving 988 who were eventually deployed to 13 local government areas of Plateau State.
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) did not post any corpse members to Jos North, Jos South, Barkin-Ladi and Riyom in keeping with the directive from the Federal Government that youth corps members should not be posted to parts of the country with prevailing history of communal violence.
In Katsina state, out of the 2, 330 corps members deployed to the state for the 2012 Batch ‘B’ NYSC exercise, 765 have relocated to other states, the NYSC state’s coordinator, Mr. Ebenezer Afolalu has said.
In Kaduna, about 40 per cent of the batch B corps members posted to the state have redeployed.
The Kaduna state coordinator of NYSC, Mrs. Victoria Ango, said out of 2499 corps members registered at the orientation camp in July, 1143 relocated, in August, only five relocated while currently in September, only two have so far relocated.
In Gombe State, mass redeployment of NYSC members posted to the state is taking a toll on the services of schools and health institutions.
Investigation by our reporter revealed that 1680 corps members mostly of southern origin were posted in batch B but 1200 have already redeployed their services to other states leaving no fewer than five hundred corps members.
However when contacted, the state coordinator of the NYSC Mr Teryima Manasseh Igyuse said, it’s not as if the state has been completely deserted by corps members as there are some who chose to stay and should be commended for doing so.
Mr Manasseh who confirmed the massive redeployment as well as its effect on the scheme blamed the recent House of Representatives resolution guaranteeing redeployment which he said is a blanket approval that stopped short of saying ‘don’t post corps members to some states’.
The case in Borno and Yobe states which have been saddled with Boko Haram challenges is even worse as over 90 percent of youth corps members in the last batch were said to have rejected their posting to the states, Greenwich News findings have shown.
The last four batches of NYSC orientation programmes were not held at the camps in Maiduguri for Borno State and Fika for Yobe State. Borno State corps members had their orientation in Benue State while those posted to Yobe State had theirs at Keffi in Nassarawa State.
NYSC officials in the two states have declined to speak on the actual number of corps members that agreed to serve in the state.
Meanwhile the headquarters of the NYSC in Abuja says corps members were free to relocate from states that experience crisis regularly.
Speaking to newsmen in Abuja, Director, Corps Mobilization, Mrs Mercy Kolajo, said, however, that the only criterion for corps members to redeploy from a state that is crisis free is either based on ill health or marital reason.
Kolajo said that the scheme does not have plans to change the posting policy of corps members to their own region as that would defeat the act that established the scheme.
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