COVID-19: FG snubs Osinbajo report, mobilises corpers to camps
POLITICS DIGEST– The Federal Government has again snubbed a recommendation by the Economic Sustainability Committee led by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and decided to re-open orientation camps nationwide next Tuesday amid rising COVID-19 infections.
The Osinbajo-led committee had in June 2020 recommended that while the National Youth Service Corps programme could continue, the three-week orientation exercise should be suspended for two years.
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The recommendation read in part, “The immediate focus in the education sector is to address the disruptions caused by the pandemic and ensuring social distancing measures at all levels of education.
“In a similar context, consideration will be given to suspending the National Youth Service Corps orientation camp exercises for at least 24 months while allowing deployment to places of primary assignment. This will ensure that there is no backlog in the national service placement pipeline.”
It was learnt that when the spread of COVID-19 dropped late last year, camps were re-opened in November but the nation again recorded a surge.
A top health official said the increase in activities including the re-opening of NYSC camps and the #EndSARS protests contributed to the spike in COVID-19 cases which has now exceeded 100,000.
