Truth be told; we always wait for things to get to a breaking point before we act in this country. The menace of the NYSC is not a new thing. Every time you come close to overlooking the scheme and its rubbish, another story comes to rile you. I had never liked NYSC and don’t bother ask me why.
Image updated on 28th, July 2016
After my experiencing of serving our fathers land, I had been following issues and excruciating experiences of Corp members. I had my own share of such experience. Some things are better not experienced even as they say experience is the best teacher; some will break you, mould you into another person: a stranger, evil person seeking revenge/nauseated at the sight of a group of people, etc. Some psychological issues…
Reading the story of five Corpers kidnapped in Rivers state, the deafen silence of the federal government, the non-disclosure of the Corpers identity by the NYSC, I wonder if our government would rather compensate families than protect the lives of the youths (citizens) or is this a ploy to eliminate youths? Youths are said to be the leaders of tomorrow, is it the dead that would lead?
Campaigns to Free the Corpers had been organised; asking all Batch B 2011 Corp members to boycott the passing out parade on the 16th of June, 2011. Since NYSC and the Federal government had decided to go deaf and dumb on this issue, maybe this will get their attention. At every point we have to act for ourselves. There are so many questions that plague the mind here.
We are a people who live on the principle “All man for himself”. Each citizen had in one way or the other learnt to be the government; providing the necessities supposed to be the government’s function. Expecting electricity for just 20 minutes in a week is seen as an insane wish in some parts of the country. Basic social amenities like water, electricity even road have become a duty fatalistically carried out by individuals with a simple shrug of “God dey”!
We are a people who live on the principle “All man for himself”. Each citizen had in one way or the other learnt to be the government; providing the necessities supposed to be the government’s function. Expecting electricity for just 20 minutes in a week is seen as an insane wish in some parts of the country. Basic social amenities like water, electricity even road have become a duty fatalistically carried out by individuals with a simple shrug of “God dey”!
Parents for many of us had been the government we have known all our life. They slave to provide things the government had denied us. And certainly after service year, they would be the government to turn to for job. Mulling over this, will youths all over the country agree to boycott the passing out parade? The only reason most youths endure the service year is for the certificate. Would anyone trade that to get the attention of a government that had never been there for them? Won’t that everyman for himself attitude come to play here? A case of ‘eni ori yo’dile’.
The Rivers state government had been said to claim they won’t be paying any ransom. I wonder if they were inspired by some American film; they had better wake to reality. There was money to pay when foreigners were kidnapped, are they waiting to compensate? Come to think of it, why would Corp members be kidnapped? Are the kidnappers trying to get the attention of the government believing that Corpers are ‘Government Child’ or on the view of many communities that Corp members are viruses eating their allocation?
To answer the questions plaguing the mind, a simple shrug of “God dey” seems to fit perfectly. But no! God didn’t kidnap them, some people did. It is our responsibility to take action; poke, push, question, petition, compel the various arms of government, NYSC and any other group or individual(s) involved. #FreetheCorpers
