The recent deaths of corps members in three separate orientation camps across the country have sparked anger, unending debates and renewed calls for a total scrap of the scheme.

With the intense conversations on social media, you’d think these occurrences are never-before-seen and the ensuing reactions come from a place of shock.

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has been running three yearly batches for some years now and with each batch, there are occurrences of corps members dying in unavoidable circumstances. All unsolved cases that are quickly forgotten with no justice done leaving the families of these young people unpacified.

Here’s a timeline showing how the NYSC programme has been complicit in the loss of lives of youth corps members they are entrusted to groom:

March 11, 2011: Post- presidential election violence in Northern Nigeria claimed the lives of 10 corps members. Their families were visited by the then President Goodluck Jonathan and were compensated with N5million each.

August 9, 2013: Juliet Okorocha was travelling in a congested speed boat with seven other passengers in the Ilaje area of Ondo state. The boat caught fire leaving passengers to swim to safety, Okorocha who apparently was unfamiliar with swimming was the only one who lost her life in the mishap. Her body was reportedly found 24 hours later.

August 28, 2013: 29 year old, Bibiara Zira contracted pneumonia at the Zamfara orientation camp and was admitted at the Federal Medical Centre, Gusau for two weeks where she was left unattended to because doctors at the hospital had proceeded on a strike action. It was reported at the time that some of Zira’s fellow corps members had donated blood to her but it could not be received and transfused due to the strike. She later passed on in another hospital in the state.

March 24, 2014: Julius Oghoroko was shot by unidentified gunmen in Awka, Anambra state. He was later rushed to the hospital after having bled profusely but was revived by doctors.

June 17, 2015: Yetunde Idowu was raped to death by five men in Ilorin, Kwara state. Her corpse was found in a pool of blood miles away from her residence.

March 19, 2016: Samuel Okonta was shot by gunmen in Ahoada West LGA during the re-run election in Rivers state.

Now in this ongoing batch, three corp members have lost their lives in the last two weeks and these events still cast a pall over the country.

This time, the rhetorics have surfaced again. The NYSC DG has promised to probe the deaths and a committee has been set up to that effect. But how about all the past deaths, all the families who will forever live with the sad memories, how does the NYSC intend to comfort them and more importantly, prevent future occurrences?

And why is President Buhari still silent?

Tolu

Your pop culture/entertainment go-to. Music head. Wallflower. I do not like to write. On a mission to decipher covfefe.