The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) management, in response to a social media report that 344 corps members were killed in the Northwest, said the report was misleading and a fiction peddled by detractors of the revered institution, therefore, asked parents and the general public to disregard it.
A statement from the office of NYSC DG, Brig-General Shuaibu Ibrahim, Saturday, said, “This same medium on Thursday, 29th July, 2021 came up with a fake story with the caption: Nearly 200 NYSC members murdered across North-east this year as kidnapping escalates.
“As earlier stated, every discerning mind knows that story, as well as that of today are both false. No Corps Member deployed to the North-East and North-West geo-political zones of the country was killed, neither was any abducted by bandits in July, 2021, as reported.
“Management would have ignored this story, but had to issue this rebuttal for the sake of undiscerning minds who may swallow the fake news, hook, line and sinker.”
General Ibrahim appealed to both the mainstream and new media, “as opinion moulders and critical stakeholders in the polity to always place national interest above every other consideration in their reportage, as anything contrary has the propensity to create apprehension in the minds of parents, guardians and other stakeholders.” He stressed that NYSC will continue to prioritise the security and welfare of corps members as its cardinal policy thrust.
