The  National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Director-General, Brig.-Gen. Maharazu Tsiga, has debunked media reports of bomb blasts in some orientation camps in the country.

In an interview with newsmen in Maiduguri yesterday, Tsiga expressed surprise at the reports, saying they were baseless.

“The issue of bomb explosion in Maiduguri NYSC orientation camp is not true, and no corps member died because the camp has at no time recorded any blast.

“Our camps are very peaceful nationwide. Our corps members are in high spirit all over the country, training in the camps.”

Tsiga said the reports were “mischievous and targeted at causing unnecessary tension in the country”.

“The publications are untrue. How can somebody claim that people died when the camp is still on?.

“I want to repeat that our camps are peaceful, and activities are going on peacefully in all parts of the country.”

He said the wrong information was capable of causing distractions among the corps members, who are busy undergoing their orientation in the camps.

“I can’t understand why people are trying to create panic among the corps members for no reason.”

Tsiga also referred to some text messages by anonymous persons claiming that there were explosions  in the orientation camps, describing them as false.

He appealed to the public to disregard such text messages.

In Yobe the  Police Command has directed landlords to furnish it with detailed information about their new tenants and land buyers as part of security measures to contain the activities of criminals.

Mr Hyacinth Medugu, the command’s Deputy Commissioner of Police, told newsmen yesterday in Damaturu that the measure became necessary to check the influx of questionable characters into the state.

He explained that the command was closely monitoring the movement of people in and out of the state, especially those relocating to the area, in view of the current security challenges in some states.

“The command is partnering with other security agencies to check possible movement of arms and ammunition.

“We have, since the April elections, formed a working relationship with other security agencies and opinion leaders to monitor security situation in the state.”

Medugu said the command had also initiated meetings with commercial motorcycle operators and retired police officers to re-strategise for a collective approach to security related issues.

He noted that the command had also re-strategised its operations with more patrol vehicles deployed in the field, stressing that the measure had assisted the police to recover some stolen vehicles.

Our correspondent reports that the command recently took delivery of armoured vehicles to be deployed at strategic locations, including public utilities and bank premises to check possible security breaches.

Similarly, Kogi Government has dispatched seven buses to Maiduguri to bring home more than 300 students of the state origin trapped in the Borno capital.

The President of the National Association of Kogi Students (NAKOSS), Mr Dare Zacheus, confirmed the buses’ dispatch to newsmen in Lokoja yesterday, saying they left for Maiduguri early in the morning.

He said the students would start to arrive in batches as from Friday and described the state government’s intervention as a relief to NAKOSS and parents of the stranded students who, he noted, had run out of money and food for days.

Our correspondent recalls that NAKOSS had in a save-our-soul message on Wednesday asked for government’s assistance in rescuing the trapped colleagues, mostly students of the University of Maiduguri.

The university was closed down indefinitely on Monday following persistent threats of attack on it by members of the dreaded Boko Haram sect.

Zacheaus specially thanked Gov. Ibrahim Idris for providing money and security back-up for the evacuation team, which included himself.

The student leader promised that NAKOSS would reciprocate the good gesture by being partners in progress with the state administration.

The association reiterated its earlier call on security agencies and the Federal Government to find a lasting solution to the security problem in the country.