The past week has been a difficult on to endure for many Nigerians. From the optimism of elections to the depression of post-election violence. With a heavy heart we re-collect our one year of service to the fatherland through the National Youth Service Corps programme. It appeared to be a masterstroke in innovative thinking to ask corpers to become ad-hoc staff for the Independent National Election Commission for the elections. But no one quite prepared us for this….for death by service.
In the aftermath of the elections in Nigeria, several young Nigerians like Ikechukwu and Okpokiri below have been murdered in the service of their country. Like all of us who have had the luxury of tertiary education in Nigeria, they were sent to another part of the country to serve and promote our unity. They wore their khaki pants and white tshirts proudly, swearing allegiance to our federal republic, flagging their caps in camp, serving the communities and their country.
On Nigeria Health Watch, we mourn them but also ask ourselves one simple question;
What is the collective mental health of a people that are capable of such violence?
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed people can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has…Margaret Mead