The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has appealed to the Gombe State Government to help tackle water shortage at the state orientation camp to enable corps members observe personal hygiene.
Mrs Fatima Abubakar, Chairperson,NYSC Governing Board, made the call during a courtesy call on Gov. Inuwa Yahaya at his office in Gombe on Tuesday.
Abubakar who was in state to inspect the temporary orientation camp, said that the major challenges at the camp were those of accommodation, poor facilities and lack of water.
“ Currently the camp is housing 817 corps members and every day they have to buy tankers of water and in this period of COVID-19, we need water to maintain sanitation in the camp.
“We have to buy water daily to maintain good sanitation in accordance with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) guidelines, it is an uphill task; this is a major problem,” She said.
Abubakar said that the facilities at the camp needed to be upgraded to accommodate more corps members, adding that the camp can not accommodate large number of corps members due to the social distancing protocol.
She commended the state government for renovating the camp, adding that more needed to be done to ensure the comfort of corps members posted to the state.
Responding, Yahaya said that the state permanent orientation camp was been given out to the military authorities for use as de-radicalisation camp for repentant Boko Haram members.
He said that the government required about N1.2billion to build a new camp which might not be feasible with the current paucity of funds.
He assured that the government would do its best to ensure that corps members in the state were given adequate care and protection.
