[size=14pt]Lagos State Evacuates 84 Corps Members From Jigawa, Kano[/size]
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18 hours 2 minutes ago
Lagos State government has evacuated over 84 of its citizens serving in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Jigawa and Kano states, just as they have called on the Federal Government to review the NYSC programme since government could no longer guarantee their safety in the northern parts of the country. The corps members who arrived the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) with Arik Air yesterday morning from Jigawa and Kano states were grateful for a safe return but narrated their gory ordeal at the hands of their northern hosts.
The corps members who were evacuated by the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) were trapped in the crisis that engulfed some states in the North as a fall out of the Presidential election on April 16.
Although happy for their safety, the corps members urged the government to do more because many were still trapped in various hinter lands in the touchy region.
A Corps member who refused to give his name said, “the Federal Government should review this NYSC scheme because to me, it is not helping in any way. A scheme where if there is any problem, they will start by killing us is not good enough. In fact, it is not worth it. They should scrap it or review it in such a way that southerners will serve in the south and northerners in the north.”
The corps members who were airlifted in batches of two with the Arik Air aircraft were brought in following logistic arrangement organised by the Lagos State government and stakeholders in the emergency and response sector of the state, in line with information provided by the state coordinators of the NYSC.
They were received on arrival by the Lagos State Commissioner for Culture and Home Affairs, Mr Tunde Balogun, who expressed delight over the readiness of the state government to rescue them in moments of emergency.
Speaking on the development, the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, chief executive officer and general manager, Dr Olufemi Damilola Oke- Osanyintolu explained that upon receiving a distress call from Bauchi State, stakeholders meet to review the situation where it was agreed that response plan had to be activated to organise logistics for the air lifting of the affected corps members.
Sharing his experience with, Jimoh Nunayon, a native of Lagos from Badagry Local government who was one of the Corps members on election duty in Kano recounted the horrible experience caused by the violence, even as he commended the state government for coming to their rescue.
“The riot started on the Monday preceding the Presidential elections. I just came out from my lodge that Monday morning around 9am to go out, I just saw some gang of guys coming, we call them Almajiris, with cutlasses, sticks, they were approaching and shouting as they came, all what I could get from what they were saying because they were speaking Hausa is “Sai Baba, Sai Baba, CPC Sai Baba” they were just coming towards me.
“Seeing them, I was with a lady friend of mine by the road side. The bike men that were beside us then told us to run back into the lodge, we were asking what was happening, they now said there was riot because of the Presidential elections won by Goodluck Jonathan, that the target of the rioters were the NYSC members because they were being accused of rigging the elections on behalf of the president.
The LASEMA boss affirmed that they are on top of the situation as serving corps members whose lives were under threat have been seamlessly evacuated from Jigawa and Kano states, even as he said plans were afoot to evacuate the remaining members if there was further threat to their safety and security in the affected states.

http://news2.onlinenigeria.com/news/general/91686-lagos-state-evacuates-84-corps-members-from-jigawa-kano.html

Give it up for Fashola.