The National Youth Service Corps NYSC has refuted rumours that it was planning to reopen orientation camps to corps members across the country even while the country grapples with the effects of the ravaging corona virus pandemic.

The orientation camps across the country had been ordered to close down in March, following the outbreak of the pandemic in Nigeria, in order to protect the lives of the corps members.

An online publication stating that the ‘NYSC is set to reopen orientation camps made the rounds yesterday and this had prompted the management of the scheme issue a statement to debunk the claims.

While speaking to newsmen in a press briefing in Abuja, Director, Press and Public Relations, Mrs Adenike Adeyemi refuted the rumour saying the Scheme places very high premium on the lives of Corps Members, camp officials and other stakeholders which was the key reason it suspended 2020 Batch “A” Stream 1 Orientation Programme in March this year, and shall never act in anyway that will compromise their safety.

“To put issues in proper perspective, it is appropriate to state that the National Youth Service Corps will only return to the Orientation Camps when it is VERY SAFE to do so, in view of the danger posed by COVID-19 pandemic which is still very formidable.”

“It is apt to add that even when it has been sufficiently established it is safe to proceed to the camps for the resumption of normal activities, the corps shall only do so when it has received the nod of the Federal Government,” she said.

According to her, the Director-General, NYSC, Brig.-Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim, admonished corps members and prospective ones to continue the strict observance of COVID-19 safety protocols, predicated on social and physical distancing.