We sleep on bare floor, have no bathroom – Corps members at Niger NYSC camp

When Emeka Okechukwu , a corps member serving in Niger State , first got to Paiko , a town about 25 kilometres away from Minna, the capital city , he didn ’ t have any complaints . But that was before he arrived at the National Youth Service Corps orientation camp in the town .On getting to the camp , Okechukwu ’ s first impression was that it was a huge eyesore which ought to be demolished . According to Okechukwu , the poor state of the orientation camp immediately made some corps members to regret coming to the state to serve their fatherland.

“ I am not pleased that my colleagues and I have to be sleeping and sitting on bare floor in the camp , ” he said .

The floor, according to him , is infested with dangerous insects including bedbugs .

He said , “ The temporary orientation camp in Niger State is nothing to write home about ; the whole place looks deserted and I wonder why NYSC would allow such a camp to exist .

“ I am appealing to the state government to address the plight of corps members whom NYSC posted here for national service . Most of us are from states where they take adequate care of corps members. ”

Another corps member , Mustapha Jalingo , also described the condition of the camp as unacceptable , saying , “ Imagine corps members sleeping on bare floor because they want to serve Nigeria . ”

Jalingo also described the camp as “ the worst place for human habitation . ”

“ With what we can see in the camp , it is clear that the state government is insensitive to the plight of corps members posted to the state .

“ Niger State orientation camp looks like the worst refugee camp you can think of ; in fact , they brought us here to suffer us for nothing . If the state government is not ready to do the needful , the NYSC should redeploy us to another state , ” he said .

According to Joy Peters , another corps member , Niger State should stop taking corps members until it is able to provide a proper camp that can host them .

“ If the state government is not ready to take adequate care of the corps members posted here , it should ask NYSC to stop posting corps members to the state to avoid embarrassment , ” he said .

Similarly , Joy Moses , who is currently undergoing her national service in the state , described the condition in the camp as horrible .

“ They do not have a camp in Niger State ; looking at the condition of the school being used as a camp , I told my colleagues that the school was not being used by pupils before we got there .

“ The ceilings were all bad , there were no bunks , and we had to look for stones to put planks of wood on and it is on the planks of wood that we put our mattresses , ” she said .

Moses said there were only four pit latrines and no bathroom in the camp .

“ I wouldn ’ t have believed that such conditions existed in modern -day Nigeria if I had been told. There was no potable water as a big reservoir there had dirty water in it , ” she said .

As for another corps member , Jude Chukwu , the quality of food in the camp is so bad that many his “ colleagues have abandoned it for food sold at private canteens at ‘ Mammy Market. ’”

It was learnt that many of the NYSC camps in Nigeria are in a bad state , subjecting corps members to hopeless predicament .

In Niger State, the condition of the camp is also bad . No wonder the Director – General of the NYSC , Brigadier General Sule Zakari Kazaure , recently threatened to close down the orientation camp in the state , describing it as “ the worst NYSC orientation camp in the country . ”

“ The facilities are grossly inadequate , the hostels , the toilets , everything is inadequate . Niger State orientation camp is the worst in the federation . I have met with the governor one – on – one and I am dismayed that he has not fulfilled his promise concerning the camp .

“ We are not closing down the camp yet , we will give the government the benefit of the doubt . We will give him time to see what will happen but he should know that Niger State camp is the worst camp in the federation , ” he said .

Efforts to reach Jibrin Ndace , Chief Press Secretary to Governor of Niger State , Abubakar Bello , were not successful as he neither answered his calls nor returned them .

But a source in the Government House , who spoke on condition of anonymity , said the state government was not happy that previous administrations in the state had failed to provide a befitting orientation camp for corps members.

The source said it was worrisome that after 40 years of its creation as a state , Niger could not boast of a permanent orientation camp .

According to the source , government is making efforts to ensure that the permanent orientation camp in Minna will be ready as soon as possible .

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