In the wake of renewed violence in parts of Benue State, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has confirmed that corps members serving in affected communities have been evacuated and relocated to designated “family houses” in Makurdi for their safety.
The Benue State NYSC Coordinator, Mrs. Veronica Garba, disclosed this on Thursday during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Wannune, Tarka Local Government Area.
Garba said the corps members were evacuated from crisis-hit Yelewata and Daudu communities with the help of the police and safely relocated to Makurdi, where they are currently being accommodated at facilities belonging to the Nigeria Corpers Christian Fellowship (NCCF), National Association of Catholic Corps Members (NACCM), and the Muslim Corpers Association of Nigeria (MCAN).
“We do not joke with the safety of our corps members because we take them as our children,” Garba said. “As soon as we heard about the crisis, we contacted the Commissioner of Police, who detailed his officers to help us evacuate our corps members.”
She noted that a head count was conducted after the evacuation, and all corps members were accounted for. “None was missing,” she added. “We arranged with the heads of all the family houses and got them settled in Makurdi for now, pending when the situation will improve.”
Garba assured anxious parents that their children were safe and receiving support. “I am sure that the parents of our corps members have heard that all the security chiefs have moved to Benue, so they have no reason to fear,” she said. “Above all, God, who is the safest security, is everywhere; He is with your children too.”
Recall that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu visited Makurdi on Wednesday and held meetings with stakeholders, where he directed security agencies to restore calm and arrest those behind the deadly attacks that claimed several lives across affected communities.
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