BY GERALD NWOKOCHA,  Corps Member, Abuja

The Federal Government has commissioned the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Distress Call Centre (DCC) for corps members to alert the authorities in cases of emergency.

Speaking at the commissioning at the Directorate Headquarters in Abuja, the Minister of Youth Development, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said: “Our greatest challenge has been the increasing spate of insecurity which exacts tremendous pressures on the operations of the scheme.

“It is incumbent on us to seek improved ways of attending to the security concerns of the corpers because the uniform that used to protect corps members now exposes them to violence and attack.”

The minister charged NYSC management to always ensure the effectiveness of the centre, saying for the scheme to continue to be relevant, it must be responsive to the needs of Nigerians.

According to the D-G of NYSC, Brig-General Nnamdi Okore-Affia, the reason for establishing the NYSC DCC is to create a back-up where the participants can communicate with the management whenever emergency arises.

Supervisor of the centre, Mr. Eddie Mejwa, said the scheme had rolled out numbers 09-2912128/29/32/31 and explained that once the centre receives a call from any corps member, they will get the problems and location of the caller and alert the security agents in that area for quick response. He added that the centre is connected to State Security Services and Police.