NYSC Reduces Orientation Camp Over Ebola

In a bid to curb the spread of Ebola Virus in Nigeria, the directorate of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has announced that the 2014 Batch B orientation program will last for between 1 to 2 days instead of the usual 21-day program.

This is according to an advertorial published in a national daily on Saturday, 30 August, 2014, by NYSC management.

File photo of corps members.

It would be recalled that the Federal Government made a pronouncement last week that all schools in the country should not reopen until October 13, 2014 due to the outbreak of the Ebola Virus in the country.

According to the advertorial, the reduced version of the 2014 Batch B orientation course will run between September 1 and  8, 2014.

It also added that prospective corps members deployed to the affected states scheduled for the exercise are to report at the designated orientation camps reflected in their call-up letters for registration.

The affected states, according to the advertorial, are Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Lagos, Osun and Yobe.

“In order to ensure a seamless exercise, prospective corps members are advised to report on the dates indicated in the timetable presented here-under.

“The grouping is in accordance with the geopolitical zones where the corps members come from.

“Prospective corps members are to report within the dates indicated against their geopolitical zones for documentation, registration and collection of kit items only.

“Thereafter, they are to proceed immediately to their states of deployment or relocation as the case may be for the completion of the remaining formalities,” the advertorial read.

However, the NYSC did not state what the said remaining formalities would entail.

Based on this development, it means that all prospective corps members would miss the traditional rigorous activities on the NYSC camp, including the physical training, lectures, endurance trek, camp fire night, parade and others.

The pregnant female ones among them might also count themselves lucky, as they are not likely to undergo the requisite pregnancy test, a key requirement aimed at safeguarding the lives of females corps members throughout the duration of the three-week orientation course.

No fewer than six people have died from the Ebola virus in Nigeria since a Liberian diplomat, Patrick Sawyerr brought the dreaded disease into Lagos on 20 July, 2014.

Apart from Lagos, where five people have been confirmed dead from the disease, a medical doctor was also reported to have died from the virus two Fridays ago in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Over 160 people are also said to be place on closed observation in the state to see if they would show traces of the Ebola virus.

According to the World Health Organisation, WHO, at least 1552 people died from the outbreak of the disease since it started in West Africa early this year.

Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and Senegal are the five African countries that have recorded cases of the virus so far.

Other African nations have put in place several measures including travel bans to ensure that the deadly disease does not get to their countries.