Ohanaeze Urges NYSC To Redeploy Corps Members Posted To Troubled Northeast

The Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Wednesday, warned the authorities of the National Youth Service Corps against posting corps members to serve in some troubled parts of the Northeast of the federation for primary assignments, and urged the Corps to redeploy those already posted.

The socio-cultural Igbo group stated this in a statement issued by the media assistant to the president-general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Emeka Attama, and made available to THE WHISLTER in Enugu.

According to the statement, “It has come to the knowledge of Ohanaeze Ndigbo that some members of the National Youth Service Corps in the current service year have been posted to some parts of the troubled-Northeast states for their primary assignments. While Ohanaeze Ndigbo appreciates the need for all parts of the country to be developed concurrently, it goes against the grains of natural justice and human conscience for the NYSC management to send any corp members to areas that could expose them to great danger.”

The statement recalled cases where NYSC members were either killed or kidnapped during service to their fatherland, and called on the NYSC management to toe the line of caution. The statement further read, “To worsen matters, no known compensation has ever been given to the families of such unfortunate people. But come to think of it, what financial recompense can ever be equalled to the life of a young man or woman whose families laboured through the excruciating tedium of education in the country only to be so wasted?

“Ohanaeze Ndigbo, therefore, calls on the federal government to preserve the sacredness of life by directing that all members of the NYSC posted to the Northeast states where there is problem be reposted to other safer parts of the country. It will be wrong to create a situation where corps members or their parents begin to find ways of evading the service because of fear of possible harm coming to the young people.”