Compiled by Florence Amagiya

The immediate past Governor of Lagos State and National leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has stressed the need for compensation to the families of all the slain members of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, who lost their lives in the violence that erupted in some Northern states of the country while serving their fatherland… Tinubu who spoke after casting his vote in his ward at Sunday Adigun Street in Alausa, Ikeja, lamented the death of the corps members describing it as unfortunate. According to him, “every human has a right to life, dignity, freedom and liberty to pursue happiness in life”.

One of Scenes of the post-election violence in the north

He said, “Whatever happened that led to the death of the corps members had to do with education and poverty. Emotional reactions are not enough answers to the situation. We just have to look for the cause of the problem. We have to evaluate it and make adequate compensations where necessary.”

My questions are: What is the value of the life of a corps member or the slained corps members ? Can compensations bring these young ones back from the dead? Where do we go from here as a Nation that needs change? In my little knowledge, I think life is the ultimate gift one can possibly give to another. No wonder, it is wonderful when you give birth to a life, but the reverse is the case if one’s life is taken unduly. What kind of compensation can we possibly give to the immediate family? I am not agitating that the family shouldn’t be compensated, but l also feel that these sacrifices of lives should serve as stimuli to good governance in Nigeria and to all the states of the Nation. Let us have a story to tell to our children and the generation yet unborn, that once upon a timein the history of Nigeria, the lives of some youth corps members were unjustly snuffed off while serving their fatherland.

What is the value of their sacrifices they made if we remain the same self- centred people and the same selfish rulers who do not care for human lives? Instead we are mounting billions into Swiss accounts for their twentieth

generations unborn. When our youths after school cannot find something meaningful to do because there is no provision for employment. What is the value of their deaths if these incidents repeat itself in the next election because we have forgotten that we are one Nigeria and that we should live in peace and harmony?

If by chance we have forgotten the labour of our ‘Heroes past’ then this is an opportunity to witness them in this generation. What are we making of these sacrifices they have given? Don’t you ever forget that it was not given by choice of theirs, but it is still sacrifice. So that we can have better lives, electricity, pipe borne water, pliable roads, free education, good schools, minimal cost of living, employments for all who wants to work and one Nigeria as preached by the incumbent government.