On serving Nigeria

Before I got to final year, the biggest issue na be anyị bụ na m si  that I will not serve. I didn’t see reasons to. It looked like a total waste of one year and the only thing dị m n’isi bụ business na ego. Everyone in my house dị livid. They couldn’t understand ihe mere NYSC ibe m na-aga ga eji ruo na nkem m, m jụ na mụ ama nga. I didn’t have much to say maka na ọ bụrọ ihe ọ bụ in their time ka ọ bụ zi kita.

 

Ndị SARS jere na be fiance Ifeoma Abugu, an NYSC member, to arrest him. When they got there and didn’t see him, they took her. That was the last a nụrụ maka ya. Nwa mmadu mụrụ, zụọ for over 20 years. Kwuọrọ ụgwọ akwụkwọ and whatnot. Ka ha gbaara tọgbọ just like that. I couldn’t get it.

Back in the day, NYSC was ihe nturu ugo. It was a total ọnọdụ ugo. A thing of pride and high placement. They had the respect of the state and her agencies. Public transport carrying a Corp member were never harassed or subject to rigorous searches just maka na corper nọ na ya. It was beautiful to see. Iyi uniform NYSC was a hopeful thing for university students.

 

I know na ọ bụrọ NYSC gburu Ifeoma Abugu. Mana her death and the silence of the Corp goes to show how flippantly they value the lives of the young Nigerians in their care. Ifeoma Abugu was brutally murdered by an agency of the state ọ na-aserve and not even kpikim was said. 

 

The story of Ifeoma Abugu is sad because it’s the story of each of us that wake up every morning, gaa through ụzọ emere abandon or poorly constructed road just to get to a job ebe anyị ga-anọ serveụọ our Fatherland. In some cases, this service na ata isi anyị in the most gruesome ways possible. Most times ọ bụrụ agents of the same state anyị na a serve ga eri isi anyị and there’s nothing we can do about it.

Corpers nwugoro unnecessary deaths na service and n’aka Nigeria dị ka aja. It should not be so and as we go through these solemn days, ọ ga abụ ihe ziri ezi na anyị echefughi akụkọ na ndụ Ifeoma Abugu na ndị corper ọzọ Nigeria tagoro isi ha in service.