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Lagos — Addressing newsmen in Gombe recently, Tsiga said the decision was necessitated by the inability of the government to find a lasting solution to the recurring crises in Jos and the general insecurity in other parts of Plateau State.

Apart from Plateau State, he announced that, similarly, Corps members posted to the strife torn Ezillo, in Ebonyi State have been withdrawn and redeployed to other cities.

The move by the NYSC authorities is timely and commendable. Plateau and Ezillo in Ebonyi State have become flashpoints which have claimed hundreds of innocent lives in the last couple of months. Unfortunately, there are signs that the security concerns in these areas have not yet been effectively taken care of hence there are no assurances that the security of the Corps members can be guaranteed in those locations.

Youth Corps members go to their places of posting, not out of choice but in accordance with the provisions of the law setting up the scheme, which mandates them to serve in places away from their homes, sometimes places they had never visited. The objective is to help foster national unity.

The least the nation owes them, therefore, is their security. So far, however, some incidents have happened that gave the impression that the security of Corps members is not being taken as seriously as it should by both the Federal Government and the hosts of the Corps members. For instance, in Plateau, Bauchi, Kano and Borno States, there had been horrifying tales of Corps members that were either killed, raped or maimed while serving their fatherland.

Although it is possible to explain away some of the incidents as part of the general state of insecurity that has been plaguing the country, the case of Plateau State and Ezillo in Ebonyi State, where the recurring disturbances have claimed several lives, has clearly, reached a stage where until some drastic steps are taken, it would be unsafe to take Corps members who do not understand the terrain of these places to serve anywhere near them.

We have had occasion in the past to insist that the leadership of the NYSC must evolve a security strategy that would keep the Corps members far from harm's way. Indeed, we had insisted that if the DG of the Corps could not evolve such a strategy, he should resign his appointment.

We, therefore, support that the Corps should not only bark but bite, when there is a threat to the well being of their members. Corps members are special ambassadors of the country to their host communities and we agree with Tsiga that the NYSC should no longer post Corps members to states or communities that are embroiled in crises or where Corps members are attacked, killed, raped, maimed or in any other way harmed.

This posture, once properly communicated to all states and communities would make everybody in these places to eagerly contribute towards securing the Corps members, contrary to the fact that many governors, council chairmen and community leaders currently treat these young men and women off-handedly.

The constitution is clear that governors are the chief security officers of their states. Agreed that this is in practice, not exactly so, especially as the governors are not in direct control of the police and other security agencies; they are answerable to federal authorities. However, governors should take more seriously the issue of setting up security committees with local government chairmen to oversee the affairs of the Corps members as the law provides. The governors need to go beyond only attending the opening and closing ceremonies of the orientation programmes of the Corps members and devise creative measures to constantly monitor the welfare of those of them in their states.

If redeploying Corps members to safer communities and cities is one of the ways that Tsiga has chosen to address the security challenge, so be it.

It is totally unacceptable that parents should watch children they laboured to train being hacked down at the place of their national service by misguided elements.