AFTER an initial denial, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has admitted to asking corps members to prepare for ransom payment in the event of being kidnapped.
According to Premium Times, the NYSC Spokesperson Adenike Adeyemi, who revealed this in a statement on Friday, said the service was investigating the development.
She, however, said that there were currently in circulation different copies of the pamphlets with some containing the clause and others not.
The NYSC had, in a pamphlet providing security tips to corps and staff, advised that they should call their families to prepare to pay ransoms in case “they are unfortunate to be kidnapped or taken hostage” in some selected high-risk roads across the country.
Page 57 of the book, which was obtained by The ICIR from a serving corps member (Batch B, 2020) reads:
“When travelling in high-risk roads such as Abuja-Kaduna, Abuja-Lokoja-Okene or Aba- Port-Harcourt roads, then alert your family members, friends and colleagues, in order to have someone on hand to pay off the ransom that could be demanded.”
The service had, in a swift reaction to the criticisms that greeted the directive, denied the statement, saying it was fake.
It urged members of the public to always clarify issues with the organisation in its statement.
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