Reports reaching Omojuwa.Com has it that a youth corper simply named Ifedolapo who was serving in the National Youth Service Scheme died while carrying out the usual military drill routine.
According to her colleagues, they had resumed camp a day before. However, the stress of traveling a long distance from Osun state (South-West Nigeria) all the way to Kano state in Northern Nigeria was a huge cause of tiredness and fatigue.
Without given time to rest from the long journey, it was recorded that all participating members of the scheme were forced to partake in military drills the following morning despite complaints of tiredness from the long journey.
Ifedolapo who reluctantly joined in the military drill just like every other person that fateful morning. During the course of what seemed like a rigorous exercise, Ifedolapo lost consciousness and she slumped.
The heartbreaking part of this unfortunate turn of event was that the NYSC staff & military personnel who organized and coordinated the drill were informed of Ifedolapo’s health condition but with the waive of a hand, they dismissed the call for help as a ploy on Ifedolapo’s part to escape the drills.
Further investigations into the story revealed that ifedolapo had earlier complained to some coordinators about her state of health but she her complaints were neglected and she was ordered to join the drills irrespective.
Ifedolapo fought for her life as she lay unconscious on the drill ground with no medical personnel to attend to her simply because those who are charged with the responsibility of ensuring the well-being of participants believed Ifedolapo was only being dramatic so as to be able to exempted from the drill.
This is a sad situation as the corpers have called that justice should be done to the irresponsible camp officials who right under their noses allowed such an unfortunate event take place.
One of Ifedolapo’s colleagues was quoted saying; “Please for God’s sake, if NYSC cannot be scrapped, let it be restructured to give room for service in neighboring States. This is one death too many“.
According to Ngozi Emenike who also reported the case, she said; “So this girl died in Kano camp today due to negligence. They assumed she was pretending to be sick in order to dodge parade, so they refused to treat her until the situation got complicated. When will Nigeria grow? RIP Ifedolapo.”
There have been calls from Nigerians that the issue should be probed and justice should be served. There have been previous complaints about the attitude of NYSC officials especially in camps. From neglect of duty to bribery, extortion and sometimes sexual offenses, the appropriate authorities need to wade into these series of misconducts perpetrated by it’s officials.
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