Map of Gombe
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has denied claims of a fatal road crash involving prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members deployed to Gombe state.
A viral post had, on Wednesday, claimed the crash killed 16 people, with two others critically injured.
Punch reports that Janet Kassa, FRSC PRO, said checks with units and commands across the state indicated that no such incident occurred.
“I have checked with my colleagues, there is no indication this happened in Gombe, not to mention that it even occurred,” Kassa was quoted as saying, urging the public to disregard the post.
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Jennifer Laha, NYSC PRO in Gombe, was also quoted as dismissing the circulating images as suspicious.
TheCable had contacted Adeyemi Federal University of Education (AFUED) in Ondo, where the prospective corps members were purported to have travelled from.
The institution’s management, however, denied knowledge of any such accident.
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The NYSC scheme requires many graduates to travel vast distances across the country, often to unfamiliar and remote locations for their mandatory one-year service.
These long journeys, undertaken on commercial transport, have resulted in multiple documented fatal road accidents involving prospective and serving corps members over the years.
In recent months, many graduates have additionally been expressing concerns about the significant security risks involved.
The NYSC has also been issuing perennial warnings against night and unauthorised travel, making the discourse a sensitive one.
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In January 2025, four people lost their lives after a 14-seater conveying corps members to the NYSC orientation camp in Ebonyi rammed into a parked truck.
As of this report, Caroline Embu, NYSC’s national spokesperson, has yet to respond to enquiries on these concerns.
