WHEN undergraduates complete their university education after the mandated number of years of study, they normally look to the future, starting with the compulsory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), with great expections. The goals of the one year of service to the nation are indeed noble; to foster unity among citizens of the different ethnic groups which constitute the nation and to tutor and prepare the graduates on the importance of job security.Many graduates had always looked forward to receiving their call-up letters which normally revealed which region and state one would be posted to; but not anymore. For the past two years, many graduates have been dreading being called upon to serve their fatherland. This is owing to the recent turn of events starting with the crises that rocked many states in the North during the last general election, where many innocent youth corps members were killed. Also, the present security situation in the North, where bombings are becoming the order of the day is indeed worrisome. This has generally made the region a no-go-area for many who value their lives.As it is, there has been apprehension across the country as the NYSC opened its camps nationwide, on Monday, to Batch B corps members.This is mostly being experienced by prospective youth corps members who have been posted to states in the northern part of the country. Graduates who have been posted to such states have either shunned their call-up letters or are going to resume at the camp, fearing for their lives. At no other time has the NYSC program come under heavy attacks as now and the pressure may not ease any time soon, going by the reaction that greeted the recent release of the scheme's Batch A posting which had many corps members from the South-West, South-East and South-South finding themselves posted to highly volatile areas in the North-East zone of the country.Since last week, the Abuja headquarters of the program had been under siege from parents, guardians and their respective wards that are bent on lobbying the secretariat to change its mind over their undesirable postings. Sources revealed that tons of notes from influential Nigerians such as senators, members of house of representatives, former ministers, judges, top military officers, and Directors Generals of parastatals have found their way to the office of the Director-General of NYSC, Brig-General Nnamdi Okore-Affa.Brig-General Okore-Affa had said, 'Nigeria has 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. By our mandate, we must post corps members to all states.'However, because some areas have been described as volatile, what we will do is to reduce the number of corps member sent to such states. They will be posted to areas where their security will be guaranteed.'The truth is that each state deserves corps members. We will not deliberately send corps members to violence-prone areas, but we will send to at least state capitals.' But his words had done little to pacify the intending youth corpers members who stormed the Abuja secretariat on Monday.When Miss Antonia Temilade Oyinye, an Economics graduate of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Osun State, received her call-upletter recently, she open it eargerly. However, on reading its contents, she burst into tears. It was later discovered that she had been posted to Yobe State.Her worst fears had been confirmed, and this was not the first time. According to her, when she finished her HND, she had also been posted to Yobe State. But, she didn't go because she proceeded to Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). Antonia was distraught. People tried to reason with her that it was perhaps destiny that was leading her to Yobe State, but she was inconsolable. In a chat with the Nigerian Tribune, she insisted that she was ready to forgo the excercise of service to the nation rather than go to Yobe State. "I am still in shock. I cannot believe that only two of us were posted there from my department. I never thought it could happen to me a second time. It is unfair. The NYSC should allow intending youth corpers to be given the opportunity of voluntary redeployment so as toforestall unforseen events posed by the general insecurity in the country, especially the North."My parents are adamant that I stay put in Ibadan until something is done to my predicament. Luckily, now I am to resume in Adamawa State. I will resume at Adamawa now, but something must be done quickly to keep us all safe", she stressed.She encouraged the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, address the general insecurity in the nation at the moment, and also mandate the NYSC to post prospective youth corpers to their respective native regions."If it is compulsory for graduates to proceed on the compulsory service year, they must be posted to the state or region of their preference. This is because the purpose for which the NYSC was created has been defeated. This code stipulating that youth corpers must be posted randomly must be revisted and amended". she said.She prayed for the unity of the country and requested that the Federal Goverment should end the face off with the Boko Haram sect so as to once again live in a society built upon peace and stability. However, from a legal stand point, although the decree establishing the scheme does not allow corps members to reject posting, a former Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Samuel Omotunde Ilori, said that they have the right, under the 1999 constitution, to reject posting to places where their lives could be wasted.'They have the right to life and dignity of the human person first and the right not to be killed. These rights are enshrined in Chapter 2 of the 1999 constitution. Those rights are higher than the 1973 Act of the NYSC or the Decree 1993 of the NYSC.'Self-preservation is the first law of nature. Dead men don't argue. All those young men who lost their lives last April are gone forever.'If there is any corps member that is posted to a place where he feels his life is not secured and he rejects it on such grounds, I will offer my service pro bono to defend such person in court.'I will show in court that they have the rights to life and not to be killed and that the right is higher and overrides the statutory provision that they should be taken to places other than places of origin,' he said.'A lot of corps members perished in one state in the North when they were deployed for election duty and nothing happened.'If I have a child who is to do youth corps service today, and you send him to Maiduguri, for instance, I will sue. I will ask the court to make an order that you have no right to imperil the life of my child. The full duty of the law is to protect life and property,' he said.
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