As I wrote this piece, the wake of a young lady, Beverly, was ongoing. She died in a ghastly motor accident currently while travelling to Ebonyi State to serve a nation (in the National Youth Service Corps) that cares nothing about her and her family. Her father is a Keke Marwa (tricycle) driver, and her mom is a teacher. And, after struggling and suffering much needless national vexations to train Beverly, Nigeria sent her on a journey of no return. She was just 23 years old.
Only the poor serve Nigeria during the mandatory NYSC programme; the rich serve wherever and whoever they want. While the poor are mostly flung far and wide, the rich influence where their children are posted, and I do not blame them! Who would spend millions and a lot of other unquantifiable resources on a child and watch Nigeria send him/her out of his reach? ‘ Who? By all means, if you can, keep your child nearer home. Our leaders do not allow their children to go beyond Lagos and Abuja, assuming they allow them to serve at all, when they can easily ‘buy’ the NYSC certificates for them. ‘No be Naija’!
There are many questions that the Nigerian government and NYSC need to answer:
Who pays for the transportation of these corps members from their parent’s homes to their states of primary assignment? The Bible says, “Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink the milk?” – 1 Corinthians 9:7.
In Nigeria, corps members, soldiers, policemen, and women go to war and serve the country at their own expense. It is a shameful anomaly!
Who guarantees the safety of these corps members? Participating in the NYSC is far from going to war (by design), but why are we losing these innocent young men and women to road accidents, communal and ethnic clashes, and the pervading general insecurity in the land? What is wrong with the leadership of this country?
Is there any compensation for families like Beverly’s who lost their children to the NYSC scheme? Shouldn’t there be an insurance policy to cover these corners before coming into the scheme? There should be!
My heart goes out to the parents, siblings, and friends of Beverly, who are grieving over her painful passage. May the Lord comfort, strengthen, and uphold them, and bring the troublers of Nigeria to shame, in Jesus’ mighty name. It is well!
Olu Aina writes from Lagos
