FG to shut down NYSC camps that violate COVID-19 protocol

The federal government says it will shut down any National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation camp that violates the COVID-19 protocol. 

Sunday Dare, minister of youth and sports, disclosed this at the media briefing of the presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19, held in Abuja on Monday.

He said the lives and health of the corps members are a priority to the government, adding that the affected persons will be reposted to nearby states to continue the orientation exercise.

The minister, therefore, called for strict adherence to the protocol, and urged NYSC officials to cooperate with approved authorities on curtailing the spread of COVID-19 at orientation camps.

“Going forward, any state that refuses to cooperate fully — 100 percent — in the aspect of COVID-19 protocol adherence, full testing using the RDTs, and also data management by the approved staff of the NCDC, the health ministry, and also the trained doctors, that state will have its orientation camp shut down and the corpers would be sent to adjoining states,” the minister said.

TheCable had reported that 731 of the 34,418 corps members for batch B tested positive for COVID-19.

Meanwhile, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), as of January 25, the country has confirmed 122,996 coronavirus infections, out of which 98,359 recoveries and 1,507 deaths have been recorded.