FRSC denies fatal crash involving prospective corps members in Gombe
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has dismissed social media claims of a fatal crash involving prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members deployed to Gombe State.
A viral post on Wednesday alleged that 16 people were killed in an accident, with two others critically injured.
Punch reported that Janet Kassa, FRSC spokesperson in Gombe, said checks across all units and commands in the state revealed no record of such an incident.
“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.
Jennifer Laha, spokesperson for the NYSC in Gombe, also dismissed the images circulating online as suspicious.
When contacted, the Adeyemi Federal University of Education (AFUED) in Ondo — from where the prospective corps members were purported to have travelled — said it had no knowledge of any such accident.
The NYSC scheme routinely requires graduates to embark on long road journeys across the country for their one-year mandatory service. These trips, often made via commercial transport, have resulted in several fatal accidents involving both prospective and serving corps members.
Security concerns have heightened in recent months, with many graduates expressing fears about travelling to remote or high-risk areas. The NYSC has repeatedly warned against night travel and unauthorised trips.
In January 2025, four people died when a 14-seater bus conveying corps members to the NYSC orientation camp in Ebonyi collided with a parked truck.
As of the time of filing this report, Caroline Embu, the NYSC’s national spokesperson, had yet to respond to enquiries on ongoing concerns about corps members’ safety.
