Gov Kefas gifts NYSC members 500 mattresses, N9.5m

Taraba State Governor, Agbu Kefas, has presented 500 mattresses to the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) for the use of corps members and camp officials during the orientation course in the state.

The governor, who was represented by the Taraba State Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, Joseph Joshua, on Friday, September 1, 2023, said the gesture followed the attack on the NYSC Orientation Camp in Taraba in 2020 by hoodlums during the #EndSARS protest where mattresses were looted.

He stated that the mattresses were a measure to relieve the sufferings of corps members and camp officials during orientation exercises.

While urging the beneficiaries to utilise the mattresses well, Governor Kefas also donated N9.5 million to augment food rations in the camp.

Responding, the Taraba NYSC Coordinator, Anthony Nzoka, who received the mattresses and the money, appreciated the governor for the kind gesture.

Nzoka pledged to put the mattresses and the cash to judicious use for the good of all.

He said: “I want to say that since the #EndSARS protest in 2020, this camp has been managing in pain.

“When I came here in 2021, I met a camp that was totally devastated; I was imagining where to begin. Each time corps members collect mattresses, I feel pain because they are not good enough.

“Each time I am briefing the corps members, I always tell them, ‘you know our mattresses are not good but bear with us’. This is the reason, but today you have taken away our pains.

“I want to assure you that these mattresses will be properly branded and kept on the camp for use by corps members and officials.”

The Star