‘Nasarawa corps members didn’t fight over religious favouritism’

National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Nasarawa state has debunked an online publication alleging a bust-up between Muslim corps members and their Christian counterparts due to religious favouritism.

This was contained in a statement issued the coordinator of the scheme in the state, Mr. Stephen Dewan, in Lafia on Friday.

According to him, the online publication titled, “Religious fight in Corpers’ Lodge, Nasarawa state” to portray Muslim corps members being favoured over their Christian counterparts by the management of the scheme thereby culminating in a fight between corps members of both religions in a Corpers’ Lodge in the state recently.

Dewan, however, described the allegation as “baseless and the article as a poor effort lacking in basic use of relevant vocabulary and lacking in necessary detail to substantiate the allegation and meet the requirement of an objective output.”

“The article is so lacking in detail that one can only conclude that the writer knows nothing about the structure of NYSC or anything about Nasarawa state. For instance, the writer does not state the level of NYSC management or the supposed Federal institution which allegedly showed favouritism to one religion against another neither does he or she give a slight clue as to which of the 13 local government areas or 16 development areas of Nasarawa state the alleged incident took place.

“So, for the avoidance of doubt, no such incident occurred among Corps members anywhere in Nasarawa state and the scheme as a whole does not recognise dichotomies among Corps members,” he said.

He urged the public to disregard the article, adding that the scheme “at present is more concerned with ensuring the safety of corps members in view of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic devastating the country and the world.

“We are also focusing on providing whatever intervention we can towards mitigating the impact of the pandemic in Nasarawa state and the country.”

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