The rape, in Kano recently, of two female members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) by suspected robbers, is another in the growing number of cases of desecration of a national symbol, which must be roundly condemned.

According to reports, the suspected robbers, numbering about 14, invaded the Mohammed Adamu Secondary School in Fagge Local Government Area of Kano where the female corps members were serving their fatherland and made away with property worth thousands of naira belonging to the ladies, after taking turns to abuse them sexually.

As the story goes, by the time the robbers were through with their victims, they had become unconsciousness and had to be rushed to the Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital, Kano for treatment. The robbers locked up the guards and seven male members of the NYSC, also serving in the school, before pouncing on their female victims.

The college's principal, Alhaji Mohammed Garba, who confirmed the incident, expressed amazement at the development, especially given that the school is located a few metres away from a police station.

Sadly, the Kano incident is coming barely two months after another member of the NYSC, Miss Grace Ushang, was allegedly raped and murdered in Maiduguri, Borno state, where she was doing her primary assignment.

Only last year, some members of the NYSC, serving in Jos, Plateau state, were also killed by some religious fanatics, during the crisis which engulfed the city, in the heat of a disputed local government election.

Admitted that there is scarcely any society in the world that is totally crime free, we seriously frown at a situation where hapless youths, sent thousands of miles away from their homes to serve their fatherland compulsorily are so easily exposed to bodily harm, even within their places of residence.

This should pose a serious challenge to the security agencies in the country generally, and the case of these two female corps members should, even more forcefully, affront the Kano state police command, especially as it happened, literally, under their noses, as one of their stations is meters away from the scene of the crime.

We acknowledge the fact that police personnel are operating under trying conditions, but this cannot explain the fact that the security situation in the country is nothing to write home about.

Government must rise to the occasion to equip and motivate the officers and men well enough for them to perform as they should.

However, the police should, maximise what is available to them presently to ensure that the lives and property of Nigerians and other nationals resident in the country are secure.

Indeed, we demand that the police and other security agencies should carry out a thorough investigation of the Kano case to establish the circumstances surrounding the rape and robbery incident. This is especially so given that the robbers did not go to any other apartment or house except those of the corps members, where limited cash and property would naturally be available. The police should dig deep into the matter to find out if the crimes were not plotted to humiliate the female victims.

Besides, given the recurring cases of violence against corps members, some of them leading to their deaths, we challenge the Director-General of the scheme, to rise up to the challenge of evolving a security master plan for the corps members, especially as he is a military officer. Technically, the corps members are his wards and he should work out strategies to protect their lives and property wherever they are posted. Where he and other members of the management of the corps cannot present this security master plan, they should throw-in the towel. This would be the most honourable thing to do.

Concerning the unfortunate female corps members, we counsel that the NYSC authorities should immediately transfer them to any other state of their choice to protect them from public ridicule and stigmatisation that could arise from the incident. They should also be paid some monetary compensation to assuage their emotional trauma, though such experience cannot be financially quantified.

We use this ugly incident to again, call on the Federal Government and the states hosting the corps members to ensure that participants in the scheme are given maximum protection. The recurring cases of violent crimes against them should be checked in order not to give opponents of the scheme grounds to intensify their calls for its discontinuation.