UPDATED: Ex-NYSC DG Yusuf Bomoi is dead

A former Director General of the National Youth Service Corps, Yusuf Bomoi, died on Monday after a brief illness.

Mr. Bomoi was the 13th Director General of the corps and served from October 2004 to November 2009.

The current Director-General, Suleiman Kazaure, on Tuesday condoled with the family of Mr. Bomoi.

Mr. Kazaure, a brigadier-general of the Nigerian Army who paid a condolence visit to the family in Abuja on Tuesday along with top management staff of the NYSC, said the death of Mr. Bomoi was a ‘rude shock’ to the scheme.

He said the deceased left indelible footprints on the scheme and assured the family of the support of NYSC at its time of grief.

“It was during Bomoi’s time as the director general of the NYSC that the scheme was able to move its directorate headquarters to the permanent site in Maitama, Abuja.

“Bomoi made a lot of landmark achievements when he served as the director general of the scheme from 2004 to 2009.”

Mr. Kazaure, who described Bomoi as a pragmatic and inclusive leader, said his sense of innovation and compassionate disposition endeared him to the hearts of all.

He said the death of Mr. Bomoi had created a big vacuum that would be hard to fill, adding that the scheme was, however, consoled by his exemplary life of service to God and humanity.“The scheme will support the family members in every way possible so that his demise would not weigh heavily on them,” Kazaure said.

The director general said the scheme would hold a management meeting soon to conclude on plans to immortalise the late former director general.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr. Bomoi, who died in Abuja after a brief illness, has been buried according to Islamic rites.

NAN also recalls that Mr. Bomoi was the second ex-corps member to head the NYSC scheme; he was appointed the 13th director general of the NYSC on Oct. 29, 2004.