Tears as body of dead corps member goes home

The Family, friends and associates of a late member of the National Youth Service Corps, Eva Amadi, wept uncontrollably on Monday as the body of the deceased was conveyed from Ilorin, the Kwara State capital to her home town in Rivers State.

Amadi, who was among new corps members undergoing orientation in Edu Local Government Area of Kwara State, reportedly suffered a bone fracture during a morning drill on Monday, April 23 and died on Thursday.

A native of Rivers State, she attended the University of Port Harcourt where she obtained a Bachelor degree in Oil and Gas Engineering.

The Public Relations Officer of the NYSC in Kwara, Mr. Oladipo Morakinyo, in a telephone interview with our correspondent, confirmed that the body of the deceased was conveyed in an NYSC ambulance from the  University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, where she was confirmed dead and embalmed, to  Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State.

He noted that the Federal Government, through the NYSC, bought the casket and paid the hospital and embalment bills, as well as other burial expenses.

Meanwhile, the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has said that Amadi should be immortalised.

Saraki, who paid a condolence visit to the officials and corps members at the Yikpata Orientation camp, also described Amadi’s death as a sad event.

The Senate President noted that the facilities at the camp were inadequate and he pledged that efforts would be made to upgrade them.

“Please stay focused and committed.  We promise that we will do our best to ensure that the future is bright. We are there thinking of you and to see how to make your life and time here very fruitful,” he told the corps members.

The Kwara State Coordinator of the NYSC, Mr. Remigus Amaefule, described the deceased as “a young lady who was full of life, intelligent, beautiful and was very active in all the camp activities”.

 Also, the NYSC Director-General, Brig-Gen. Zakari Kazaure, described Amadi’s death as painful. He said that all corps members mobilised for national service were covered by a life insurance policy. He expressed optimism that the Federal Government would pay compensation to the family of the late corps member.

Copyright PUNCH.