Don’t Send Our Children To Death Zone’ - UNILAG Parents warns on NYSC posting
Members of the University of Lagos Parents’ Forum have called on President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly to instruct the Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps, Brig.-Gen. Maharasu Tsiga, not to post their wards to the northern part of Nigeria, which they described as “death zone.”
In a statement jointly signed by the Chairman of the forum, B. Majekodunmi, and the Secretary, Victoria Osinuga, in Lagos, the parents said they were having “unimaginable nightmares” as another posting was due in July and they feared that their wards might be posted to the North, “where their brethren met their untimely and violent death.”
The parents said, “We, the University of Lagos Parents’ Forum, humbly appeal to the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, and the National Assembly to use their good offices to prevail on the Director-General of NYSC not to post our children to the northern part of this country for their national youth service.
“This request is very urgent and borne out of the fact that we, the parents of the children from the southern part of this country who were butchered to death by some hoodlums from the north for rendering selfless service to the nation, are licking our wounds.
“We take our stand against the posting of our children to the northern states of Nigeria. We want them posted either to their states of origin or within their geo-political zone. We are also calling for an urgent modification or repealing of the decree setting up the National Youth Service Corps, as we have since become a democratic nation.”
The forum recalled the post-election violence in the north, which led to the death of corps members, saying, “In some areas, religious crisis occurred, houses and churches were burnt, and innocent lives were lost in the process. These children are our investment, who had acquired knowledge over the years and for no just cause wasted away.
“It is for this reason that we want to cry out loud this time because we are in Nigeria where anything goes except someone raises an alarm and fights this just cause to a logical conclusion. As parents, it is too dangerous to be silent.”
In a statement jointly signed by the Chairman of the forum, B. Majekodunmi, and the Secretary, Victoria Osinuga, in Lagos, the parents said they were having “unimaginable nightmares” as another posting was due in July and they feared that their wards might be posted to the North, “where their brethren met their untimely and violent death.”
The parents said, “We, the University of Lagos Parents’ Forum, humbly appeal to the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, and the National Assembly to use their good offices to prevail on the Director-General of NYSC not to post our children to the northern part of this country for their national youth service.
“This request is very urgent and borne out of the fact that we, the parents of the children from the southern part of this country who were butchered to death by some hoodlums from the north for rendering selfless service to the nation, are licking our wounds.
“We take our stand against the posting of our children to the northern states of Nigeria. We want them posted either to their states of origin or within their geo-political zone. We are also calling for an urgent modification or repealing of the decree setting up the National Youth Service Corps, as we have since become a democratic nation.”
The forum recalled the post-election violence in the north, which led to the death of corps members, saying, “In some areas, religious crisis occurred, houses and churches were burnt, and innocent lives were lost in the process. These children are our investment, who had acquired knowledge over the years and for no just cause wasted away.
“It is for this reason that we want to cry out loud this time because we are in Nigeria where anything goes except someone raises an alarm and fights this just cause to a logical conclusion. As parents, it is too dangerous to be silent.”
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