The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has denied reports that a corps member serving in Kwara died in an auto crash in Oke-Ose, Ilorin.
NYSC Public Relations Officer (PRO) in Kwara, Oladipo Morakinyo, made the denial in a press release in Ilorin on Sunday.
“The attention of the NYSC State Secretariat, located in Ilorin, Kwara State has been drawn to a false information being circulated by an online media about the death of a corps member in an auto crash.
“The management of the scheme in Kwara State wishes to refute the false news and also set the records right that no corps member was involved or died in the said accident,” the statement said.
Mr Morakinyo added that the rumour that a corps member died alongside some students of Kwara State Polytechnic along Oke-Ose Road, Ilorin is false.
He said that immediately Kwara State NYSC Coordinator, Amaefule Reminiscent, got wind of the false news on Thursday, he dispatched the corps welfare officer and the Ilorin East Local Government inspector to investigate the matter.
Morakinyo said that the two NYSC officials visited the scene of the accident and the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital morgue, where corpses of the accident victims were deposited.
The PRO said that the findings by the two NYSC officials confirmed that none of the deceased was a corps member.
“As a follow-up, on Friday morning, the Assistant Director, Corps Welfare and Health Services in the state, also led a team of NYSC officials to the Divisional Police Station, Oke-Ose where the accident case was being handled.
“The investigation at the station revealed the correct identities of the victims and none of the five was a corps member,” Morakinyo said.
The PRO said Mr Reminiscent appealed to the press, especially online media, to always ascertain their facts before publishing news about the scheme.
