Mr. Olugbenga Adebayo, a father of six, is a vulcaniser on a street in Alagomeji, Yaba, Lagos. Despite being an artisan, Olugbenga knows the importance of education. Luckily for him, his second son, Seun, showed a lot of promise as a pupil in a primary school.
Seun‘s performance prompted his father to tighten his belt. On his part, the boy did not disappoint his father as he continued to improve on his academic performance. After his secondary school, Seun gained an admission into the University of Lagos in the Department of Computer Engineering.
Olugbenga told PUNCH METRO that his son‘s years on the campus were tough due to limited finance but Seun did not allow his poor background to be a stumbling block on his road to success.
On his graduation day in 2008, Seun‘s parents and siblings were proud of the young engineer as he made a Second Class ( Upper Division).
He was full of appreciation to his father and promised to take him off the street. Seun also assured his father that as soon as he secured a job, he would take over the responsibility of financing his younger ones‘ education.
For his service year, Seun was posted to Abia State by the National Youth Service Corps in 2008. Available record shows that ”he reported for duty promptly and he was the 15th corps member to be registered. During the orientation course, he participated actively in all camp activities.”
Fortune also smiled on Seun as he got a place at the Aba Branch of the Zenith Bank Plc, for his primary assignment. As a result of his diligence, it was gathered that the bank had promised to give him a permanent employment after his service year.
Seun remembered his promise to his parents and siblings. Every month, he sent money home.
But on June 20, 2009, Olugbenga and one of his children set out on a journey to Ibadan, Oyo State. While waiting to board a bus at the motor park, a call came through his line and the caller simply asked: “Are you Seun‘s father?”
He said after acknowledging that he was, the caller told him that his son was involved in a fatal accident and there was the need for him to come to Abia.
Olugbenga said, “I immediately told my child that was with me that we had to divert to Abia. But it was already late and we were advised to come early the next day, so that we could board the first bus. We got to Jibowu the next day and paid for the fare.
“While waiting to board the bus, the man, who called me a day earlier asked me where I was. I told him that we were about to board a bus. But the man said that would not be necessary again. He said I should give him a description of how he could locate my house. The moment he said that, I knew the worst had happened to my son and I started crying.”
Amidst sob, he added, ”When they brought his corpse, I rejected it because his head had been shattered beyond recognition. But at a closer look by one of my children, he said the corpse was Seun‘s. It was then I knew that all that I laboured for had been in vain.”
He said while the bank and the company, whose truck overran the vehicle where Seun and other occupants were compensated the family, the NYSC only wrote ‘a terse condolence letter to them.’
“The directorate did not deem it fit to send any condolence delegation to visit us. They did not participate in the funeral expenses neither did they make any attempt to compensate us on the death of our son,” Olugbenga added.
He said his lawyer, Mr. Ola Opaleye, had written two letters to the NYSC twice, saying that there had not been any response from the Federal Government‘s parastatal.
A letter dated October 12, 2009 by Opaleye reads in part, “We believe strongly that the NYSC , having invited the deceased to its scheme became solely responsible for his safety. They also have the responsibility to deliver him back to his parents in safety. The failure of the NYSC in their duty of care, entitles the parents to compensation for the loss of the life kept in their custody.”
The lawyer said the family of the deceased might seek legal redress if the NYSC did not respond to his letter.
But in her response to our correspondent’s enquiry, the Deputy Director of Public Relations, NYSC, Abuja, Mrs. Chinwe Ojukwu, expressed doubt if the scheme was aware about Seun‘s case, adding that it was not in the NYSC‘s character to jettison cases that bothered on corps members.
Ojukwu, who spoke with our correspondent on the telephone, said, ”The Director of Public Relations is passionate about the welfare of corps members. I doubt if the letters written by the family of the corps member got to us. Corps members are our babies and even after their service, we still take them as ours.
“There is no way we will get letters from a family about a corps member, who died while in service and we will not act on it. May be there is a communication gap along the line. However, we will investigate the case to know if the state directorate of the NYSC where the corps member served did the right thing or not when the incident occurred.”
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