Coronavirus - Postpone NYSC Orientation Camp, MURIC Warns FG

Professor Ishaq Akintola

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has called on the federal government of Nigeria to postpone the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Batch A 2020 orientation camp due to rising cases of coronavirus in the country.

The MURIC cautioned Nigeria should not be deceived by the fact that only two infections have been reported so far.

The Islamic group based its call on the coronavirus outbreak, sighting several cases where events have been postponed so as to contain the widespread of the disease and appealed to the authorities to be on the safe side.

MURIC Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, in a statement on Wednesday, expressed doubt about NYSC’s insistence that it had put in place preventive measures.

He said statistics on coronavirus, which originated in Wuhan, China, show that the virus has killed more than 4,000 people and infected over 116,000 globally.

“We are talking of 350,000 skilled Nigerians. These are our children. They are the hope of this country. We should not put their lives at risk. Events are being postponed across the world.

“Saudi Arabia, a highly conservative country, saw wisdom in halting its annual Umrah (lesser pilgrimage). The Dalai Lama has canceled all future public events indefinitely due to the outbreak.

“FIFA has postponed the Asian qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup. Matches are being played in Europe without spectators. Also, the World Athletics Indoor Championships will be postponed until 2021 because of the outbreak.

“South by Southwest (SXSW), an annual media festival in Austin, Texas, was canceled five days ago (March 6) due to the outbreak. NYSC cannot afford to be too clever by one,” Akintola noted.

He added that the immediate suspension of the NYSC orientation camp exercise until the virus is clear would be in the interest of public safety.