THE sudden death of three members of  the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) at different orientation camps raised fresh concerns about the safety of participants across the country. The incidents which occurred in Bayelsa, Kano and Zamfara States were illness-related. Victims were of the 2016 Batch B Stream 1. They were Chinyerum Elechi, Ifedapo Oladepo and Monday Ukene.

Oladepo’s case sparked controversy over the circumstances of the deaths. NYSC authorities said she died of kidney failure arising from urinary tract infection. Her family and some concerned groups alleged negligence. President Muhammadu Buhari apologised to the Oladepo family and ordered a full investigation on the cause of her death. The corpse is to be exhumed for the purpose. NYSC Director-General, Brig. General Suleiman Kazaure, absolved his personnel of allegations of negligence.

Several NYSC members have in recent years lost their lives to ethno-religious and political violence. No person or group has faced prosecution for the crimes. Given our extremely weak system that does not even bring murderers to book to, at least, serve the course of justice, the NYSC should go the extra mile in securing the lives of the youngsters serving the nation under their care. The safety and wellbeing of Corps Members should be of utmost importance.

We hope the probe ordered by President Buhari should be extended to all other deaths of our Corps Members as a result of violence or criminal negligence. It should not be just another hollow ritual that has been part of our poor governance, whereby probes are used to pour cold water on matters of high public interest.

We expect this probe to identify those who might have played acts of omission and commission and sanction them according to the law. Officials must be held accountable for their actions to make them sit up.

It is becoming more evident that the Federal Government can no longer afford to fund the NYSC Scheme. The standard of medical personnel and facilities at the orientation camps are getting worse. Inexperienced medical graduate NYSC Members often man medical centres at the camps due to paucity of funds to hire seasoned doctors.

More efforts should be made to screen prospective Corps Members to confirm their medical fitness, and those found unfit should be excused from the para-military drills. Those with critical medical conditions should disclose their status at orientation camps.

The Federal Government should review the Scheme and decide if our economy can still carry the burden. Otherwise, the Scheme should be suspended or repackaged to make it more worthwhile and relevant to the nation.