Saraki visits Kwara NYSC camp over death of corps member

Bukola Saraki

Senate President Bukola Saraki on Sunday paid an unscheduled visit to the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Camp in Kwara State to condole with corps members over the death Hilda Amadi.

Miss Amadi, a graduate of the University of Port Harcourt died last week after reportedly suffering a bone fracture during a morning drill in the camp.

“I heard about the tragic passing of Miss Hilda Amadi earlier this week at the NYSC Camp in Kwara. So, this afternoon, I went to spend some time with the Corps Members at the camp to reassure them that their safety, wellbeing and development remains our priority,” Saraki said in a tweet.

He added that after interacting with the young men and women at the camp, he was “encouraged by the energy of our youths and filled with hope for the future.”

There had been reports that there was no suitably qualified medical personnel at the camp to treat Amadi after she suffered the tragic injury.

Kwara State Coordinator, NYSC, Remigius Amaefule, however, denied that in an interview with a Punch correspondent, saying the death has left everyone in shock

“NYSC, being a responsible organisation, does not take the safety and wellbeing of corps members lightly. Insinuations of an experienced doctor not being at the camp’s clinic when she was taken there are not true.

“A day before the commencement of camp, which is our normal practice, a consultant from the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital moves into camp with us. So a consultant had been there. The same consultant saw her, handled her case on that fateful day. It was the same consultant that took her to the General Hospital in Share and later to the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital.

“So there is no truth in any insinuation that there was no qualified doctor in the camp’s clinic,” Mr Amaefule said.