Bodies of five prospective corps members who died in an auto-crash set for burial in Akwa Ibom yesterday. They traveled by road in the dead of the night to beat camp registration deadline in faraway Katsina, Yet, their remains were airlifted to their final resting place.
Following the losses, family members of the deceased called on the state government to assist them financially, especially the bereaved parents, who lost their children while answering the call to national service.
Families that received corpses of their children lamented that parents of the victims, were either sick, bedridden and that their conditions worsened with the news of the deaths.
They also urged the state government to subsidise flight fares for corps members, whenever they were mobilised to camps or travelling long distances to their places of primary assignment to avert future incidents that could be induced by road transport.
The bereaved families added that government should, henceforth, provide organised transportation and liaise with registered transport companies to convey corps members to their various destinations.
He said: “A major challenge of the NYSC has been road accidents. Victor, aged 23, a prophet, peacemaker and shining star with leadership talents was cut short suddenly. The incident calls for prayers at a time like this, but as children of God, we submit to God’s will. It is a tragedy.”
On his part, Evangelist James, who is an uncle to Stella Ekiko, enjoined the government to assist siblings of the deceased by giving them automatic employment to cushion the effect of the tragedy.
Some corps members, who escaped death and are currently at the orientation camp in Katsina, asked the government to redeploy them from Katsina to help reduce the psychological trauma some them were still passing through.
In her comment on a Facebook post, Sarah Abia wrote: “What is the need? What joy can it bring now? Dying by road, transported to be buried by aircraft. Oh God, deliver us from hypocrisy of this nation. May their souls rest in peace.”
For Womi Iwara: “In this country, we respect the dead more than the living. Those persons may not have flown in an aircraft before but now that they are dead, they are being brought home with aircraft in a coffin, honouring them as if after service there would have been job for them.”
Emem Okon said: “Why didn’t they put them in the aircraft to the camp. Now their dead bodies are brought back in an aircraft. Is this not medicine after death? Is this not eye service and hypocrisy of the highest order? I pray God comfort their families and friends.”
The Guardian
