Insurance benefits are supposed to be paid promptly to beneficiaries, especially in the event of death, to alleviate the sufferings of the victims’ survivors. This will not necessarily bring back the dead, but it would at least help in mitigating the pains of the loss and bring some form of closure to the issue at hand. All that is required is for the relevant papers to be filed and verified by the insurance companies.
This is why we find it hard to believe that the insurance benefits of eight of the ad hoc workers, including two corps members, who were killed in the course of their engagement by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during the last General elections, and 27 others who were injured during the period, are yet to be paid, five months after the elections.
All lives are equal. However, we are particularly worried for the corps members because of the peculiar circumstances under which they were posted for the one year compulsory national service. It is the responsibility of the Federal Government to give them insurance cover, especially now that they are engaged in the risky business of conducting elections. It is common knowledge that elections are like wars in Nigeria, especially as some politicians engage in electoral violence and other crimes in their desperation to win.
That the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members do not enjoy any comprehensive insurance cover leaves a sour taste in the mouth. This is, to say the least, scandalous, for a scheme that is over 45 years old.
When corps members are posted outside of their states of origin, the expectation is that they would sacrifice their skills and goodwill for national development and national unity, not their lives. But when the inevitable happens, then, their families deserve to be compensated adequately and promptly, too.
The least that can be expected of a country that makes cheap labour available for one year is to ensure that what the corps members miss by way of commensurate allowance is compensated for by some other means, insurance cover inclusive. It is regrettable that all the goodies that made national service memorable, attractive and pleasurable in those days are all gone with the winds! These days, many establishments reject corps members posted to them for all manner of excuses; many others that accept them do so grudgingly.
We saw the terrible experiences that many of them went through during the last elections, when, despite what were supposed to be fool-proof arrangements to make them comfortable in their respective electoral duties, many of them had to sleep on bare floors overnight, some were attacked by thugs recruited by some unscrupulous politicians for refusing to do their illegal bidding.
This is not the best way to encourage our youths to be patriotic.
It is incredible that it is only in recent times, indeed, as recently as 2017, that the idea of health insurance for corps members began to gain currency. And this was after the death of some corps members in their orientation camps.
We urge the House of Representatives to expedite action on its ‘A Bill for an Act to amend the National Youth Service Corps Act Cap. No. 84 LFN to make it mandatory for the service corps to provide life insurance policy for corps members and to provide for matters incidental thereto, 2019.’ The bill, which seeks to amend the NYSC Act, was sponsored by Mr Abdullahi Ibrahim; it passed the first reading in July. Its aim is to make the Federal Government extend its life insurance policy enjoyed by civil servants to corps members.
This is the way it should be. Serious people always plan for insurance. If there is no reciprocal action on the part of the government, people can refuse to serve. Alternatively, concerned parents should take class action to compel the Federal Government to do the rightful.
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