Pascal Oparada
Five protective members of the National Youth Service Corp perished on Wednesday on their way to their primary place of assignment.
The NYSC announced the sad news, saying the accident happened along Abaji-Kwali expressway.
According to a statement by the NYSC on its Facebook page, the incident happened in the early hours of Wednesday.
“It is with deep sense of sorrow that the Director-General, Management and the entire NYSC Family commiserate with the families of five Prospective Corps Members that lost their lives in a ghastly motor accident at about 2am today, Wednesday, 28th July, 2021, along Abaji/ Kwali Expressway,” the statement said.
While condoling with the families of the deceased, the governments of both Akwa-Ibom and Imo states, the statement added that the incident had left the scheme devastated.
“The Director-General and Management also condole with the Governments and people of Akwa-Ibom and Imo States over the tragic incident that has left the Scheme devastated.
“Indeed, it has been a black Wednesday for the NYSC Family.
“May God grant the families and loved ones the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.
“May their souls rest in peace.”
The accident has again revived the debate over the relevance of the scheme in today’s Nigeria.
One Dr Peng, who said he met of the victims of the accident said Nigeria should scrap the scheme as the country has become unsafe due to insecurity.
“One week ago, a young man approached me, said he was directed to me by his friend and needed a medical Certificate of fitness for NYSC. I directed him on how to go about it. Today I woke up to see his brain scattered on the road on somebody’s WhatsApp status.
“His vehicle had an accident on his way to camp in Katsina. Him and 3 others died. Many were injured. These happenings sound like mere stories to you until it gets so close to you. I can’t even process how I feel right now.
“Why does NYSC still exist and even if it has to, why would someone have to be made to travel across almost 10 states?”
Others said going to parts of the country with high insecurity makes the scheme irrelevant and asked that it should be scrapped.
*Going to the north for NYSC with the current spate of insecurity is a pure suicide mission.
Even trained soldiers are getting kidnapped unprovoked let alone non-combatant Corps members.
Don’t be used as bait to promote a false sense of national unity. Be wise,” Xavier said on social media.
Nigerians have been debating if the scheme should be scrapped considering that members of the NYSC are the first casualty whenever there is unrest in areas where they are posted.
