Youth Corps Members Allege Attack In Taraba

Youth Corps Members Allege Attack In Taraba

* Akinjide Calls For Scrapping Of Scheme

From Charles Akpeji, Jalingo

AT a time many Nigerians are calling on the government to either scrap or review the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme to allow corps members the option of choosing whether and where to serve the nation, following the recent rape and killing of Miss Grace Ushang in Borno State, some corps members serving in Sunkani, headquarters of Ardo-Kola Council of Taraba State on Thursday allegedly escaped being lynched in a night attack by villagers.

According to sources, the attack on the Corpers Lodge residence of the corps members followed an argument between one of them and a secondary school pupil in the community.

Although no casualty was recorded in the attack, the 30 corps members residing at the lodge have since fled to the state NYSC secretariat. They vowed not to return to the community.

One of them said: "Going back there should not be the issue now, because our security is not guaranteed at all. If not for God, I think some of us would have been killed in the process. But we are glad none of us was injured, even though we were mercilessly beaten.

"Our security has to be assured before we can think of going back there, because the people are too hostile. Why, for God's sake, would one take up arms against a corps member for rebuking a student who does not want to learn?"

The corps members lamented that policemen serving in the area did not come to their rescue during the attack, saying: "We did not even see any of them (policemen). Rather than allow ourselves to be slaughtered, we decided to run for our lives. So, the thought of going to the police station did not occur to us.

"We ran for several kilometres before we finally got a Good Samaritan riding in a pick-up van, who conveyed us to this place (NYSC secretariat)."

The new state NYSC Coordinator, Mr. Isaac Fasanu said his office was yet to be briefed on the incident, but promised to take action as soon as that was done.

A serving corps member in Sokoto State told The Guardian that apart from certain environmental inconveniences, "another problem we are facing is the aggressiveness of the people, coupled with language barrier, especially as many of them do not understand or speak English. So, relating with them is a problem, because they easily misunderstand us, thinking we are in a way abusing them.

"Teaching them in the class is also not an easy task, because they might just beat you up. The students are very violent and always come to class with knives in their pockets. There are cases where they manhandle the female teacher (corps members) for chastising them over poor performance.

"They can just round you up in a place and start doing all sorts of evil to you, including beating your buttock, pressing your breast and all sorts of nonsense. So, teachers are always very careful with them so that we don't get humiliated. All we do is just teach them and go our own way. We can hardly correct them."

She cited an instance where a female corps member was assaulted by her students for exercising authority over the students.

Second Republic Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN), doubts that the scheme serves any useful purpose in present-day Nigeria any longer.

According to him: "The care for those corps members is virtually non-existence. We now open them to avoidable dangers and risks, and some of them even die in the process. Is that what we want for our youths?'

He, therefore called for the abolition of the scheme, saying: "By exposing our youths to danger and lack of care, we are just increasing the population of our people exposed to risk."

He added: "In a country where the security of corps members has not only become an issue, but also rare, the NYSC programme becomes useless. We can no longer afford to have our children killed by some miscreants in the name of national service and some people will say it is the will of God."

But Evangelist Israel Chari, whose two sons are corps members serving in Lagos and Kaduna, said it is a great disservice for anyone to suggest that the scheme be discontinued.

According to him, the NYSC scheme is a unifying force in the country, saying the incident in Jos some time ago and others in parts of the north that led to the death of some corps members were not enough to disband such a laudable programme, as being suggested in some quarters.

Ushang, a corps member from Cross River State, serving in Borno State was killed by some miscreants in the state for inexplicable reasons, fuelling calls for the scheme to be re-assessed.