I started a series on Inflation and its effects last week but we have to take a pause to examine what is actually happening in the NYSC camps in Nigeria especially after the death of Ifedolapo and Udeme, corpers who lost their lives in the training camp in Kano and Zamfara States due to human negligence.
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Brief history of NYSC
National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) was created in a bid to reconcile, reconstruct and rebuild the country after the civil war. The Civil war lasted from 6th July, 1967 till 15th January, 1970. General Yakubu Gowon promulgated the NYSC decree 24 of 22nd May, 1973. It was stated that NYSC is being established with a view to the proper encouragement and development of common ties among the youths of Nigeria and the promotion of national unity.
After Tertiary education, young Nigerians who are less than 30 years old 'serve' the country under the NYSC scheme. Community Development Service (CDS) is a major feature of the 1 year compulsory service, and I should quickly add that corpers are deployed to serve in areas different from the ones where they were born in or the ones where they schooled in.
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The main issue...
Tragic events have happened over the years that have made people question the relevance of NYSC. Nigeria covers an area of about 925000 km sq.(just for the records, this is really large!) and has 36 states + Federal Capital Territory. To serve the country, people are usually posted to geo-political zones which they probably have never been to or have no idea of what living there looks like.
One of the major tragic occurrences that has made people really question the relevance of NYSC is the fatal accidents on the roads while travelling from a zone to another. Last year, I know of 2 very promising youth corpers who lost their lives to fatal car accidents on Nigerian highways. These guys had already graduated from University for goodness sake! Imagine what their parents went through putting them through school, only to lose them to the wicked claws of death, no thanks to TERRIBLE Nigerian roads.
The second tragic occurrence I can recall was mainly political. We had an election in Nigeria, parties won and lost as the case is in normal democracy, and next thing we heard was that corpers were being killed all over the country. Again, Imagine what their parents went through putting them through school, only to lose them to unapologetic claws of death, no thanks to political instability.
The third occurrence, which is most painful is the death of corpers even right in the training camp due to lack of facilities human beings need for basic survival. I just heard 3 corpers are dead now! What is going on Nigeria? Can someone on the floor of the senate or house of rep do something about this? These deaths are majorly due to lack of good medical facilities. Ifedolapo had an ánaphylactic reaction and Udeme had diarrhoea. Does this mean the medical guys on ground could do nothing about this? This is disheartening
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Way forward...
We need an action plan....Nigerians what do we say, and how do we go about this? Has NYSC outlived its usefulness?
Go on, paste your comment and let's see how we can make something positive happen in the right direction. This is NO joke, this is serious business
