The death of Miss Ifedolapo Oladepo, during
the 2016 batch B National Youth Service Corps
(NYSC) orientation camp in Kano state has led
to widespread outrage. Many are blaming the
NYSC for negligence, while the Corps claims
that she was ill before she came into camp. In
response to the furor, Minister of Sports,
Solomon Dalung has disclosed that the federal
government will exhume her corpse to carry
out an autopsy. This was greeted by shock in
some quarters. Is exhuming the corpse the
best move? Here are some reasons some
people think it is:
1. The truth As the accusations and counter
accusations continue to fly, the truth of the
matter is very important. The young lady has
been buried, but the real truth behind her death
has to be found, if all doubts are to be put to
rest. Like they say: “The truth will set you free.”
If parents of the deceases are to be set free
from pain and allowed to grieve properly , then
the truth behind her death has to be revealed
through an exhumation and a proper post-
mortem.
2. NYSC’s image The NYSC was set up in
1973, the goal was to foster unity among a
people divided by tribe and recently ravaged by
a civil war. 43 years later, many are of the
opinion that it is a waste of one year and
should be scrapped for a lot of reasons. When
the news broke, that three corps members
have lost their lives so far in the 2016 batch b
orientation, many of those that want it
scrapped felt validated. Therefore the
investigation must be carried out , so that the
outcome might in some way help the NYSC
launder its image.
3. Future graduates If the investigation does
not reach a proper conclusion, questions will
linger, accusations will continue and parents
will be scared once the next service batch
comes around in January 2017. We do not
want graduates to be scared when it comes to
serving their country and so it is important that
this matter be pursued to an end and put to
rest. The exhumation and autopsy has to be
done for the future of Nigerian graduates.
4. Federal government image Does the
Nigerian government care about the lives of its
citizens? The willingness to investigate the
death of Miss Ifedolapo Oladepo is a sign that
the government does. If the FG goes through
with this exhumation and conducts a proper
autopsy, then it might have shown that at least
in this one case, it does care about the
citizens and their lives. So, while there might
be reservations as regards desecration, even
Miss Ifedolapo Oladepo would likely be willing
to do this to help her country and parents find
peace.
