Tears, uproar in NYSC over pregnancy test
Amarachi Udoka [not real names] tearfully narrated her ordeal, saying she was forced and verbally insulted as she underwent the mandatory pregnancy test. Miss Udoka said “I went to camp in Nasarawa State, and I had absolutely no idea that a pregnancy test was even required. To my utter shock and horror, I was forced […]
Amarachi Udoka [not real names] tearfully narrated her ordeal, saying she was forced and verbally insulted as she underwent the mandatory pregnancy test.
Miss Udoka said “I went to camp in Nasarawa State, and I had absolutely no idea that a pregnancy test was even required. To my utter shock and horror, I was forced to urinate in a dirty container. The woman in front of me simply rinsed the container in contaminated water and then passed it back to me. The experience was so shocking that, psychologically, I have still not overcome it. It was the first time I had cried because the experience was too damning I couldn’t but cry. I was literally treated like an animal. The male corps members actually took a peep at us, undressing as the registration process was taking place in a hall right in front of shed. Ladies were forced to squat and urinate into small bottles. You can imagine the trauma we all passed through in the name of serving our fatherland”.
THE TRAVAILS OF LADIES WHO COULDN’T URINATE
Udoka said, “the ladies who were unable to urinate on demand were berated and humiliated. They were shoved out of the testing area to stand in a corner. We were not provided with any water, and some of us who had nothing in our stomachs had to stand for hours until our bodies produced urine. Some of us who had some money were told to buy water for themselves. Some of us were unable to urinate despite drinking ‘water’. Anyone who refused to go for the compulsory test or is found pregnant in the course of the test is sent out of the camp. To me, this is shameful”.
Another female corps member serving in Abuja who gave her name as Bisola, said the experience was the first time she had a pregnancy test. “I have never taken a pregnancy test in my life and the memory of it will stay stuck in my mind forever. The test was conducted in a disgusting manner. When a woman takes a pregnancy test, she should be able to do it in the privacy or in a decent clinic. Not in a field behind a campsite. Urinating outside in front of men and female staff, over other people’s urine had to be the most scarring experience of my life ever. Nigeria needs to move forward. Why couldn’t we take the tests the week before going to camp at a government hospital? The so-called medical practitioners sat there as we opened ourselves up to all kinds of health risks. Such tests were supposed to be conducted at one’s will and should not be forced on us. It is upsetting”.
Mrs Amina another corps member serving at the federal secretariat bitterly said, “The whole thing is unfair. This is compulsory service and yet they bring people and dehumanize them with the poor facilities and poor resources. Forcing respectable married women to take pregnancy tests in unsanitary conditions in public. That is just horrible and disgusting. There were protest posters in the orientation camp then, yet nobody listened to our woes because they didn’t see anything wrong with it. If they want to make it compulsory, then they should have government hospital sites where you can do your test in a decent environment before going to camp.
IS IT COMPULSORY FOR A PREGNANT WOMAN TO SERVE?
However, another female corps member who spoke under anonymity said, “Though the orientation exercise was stressful, I think the pregnancy test was not bad. It was for our own good. A pregnant woman cannot survive the rigorous of training in the camp. She may lose her pregnancy in the process. Must one serve when one is pregnant? I really do not know why everybody wants to serve, if one could be exempted as a result of pregnancy.”
In a reaction to the criticisms, the Director of Public Relations of NYSC in Abuja, Mr. E. O Aiyedogbom maintained that those who claimed to have been dehumanized exaggerated what happened during the pregnancy test. He claimed that trained medical personnel were deployed to carry-out the test.
According to Aiyedogbom, “well- trained doctors and nurses conducted the pregnancy test and nobody was dehumanized as speculated. There are rigorous activities in the NYSC orientation camp. We decided to carry out this test to maintain peace and harmony in marriages. Women should go home, deliver their babies, take care of their children after three months, come back to continue with the service. We are not running away, and we do not support abortion of any kind. If any lady is found pregnant, the lady will automatically be de-kitted and advised to come back after delivery.”
Mr Aiyedogbom noted that “we counsel these pregnant women to understand that whatever decision we take is for the strength and growth of their various families. Some families have stayed for so many years without the fruit of the womb, and NYSC cannot be an avenue to deny them that joy of parenthood. He concluded.”
‘THE TEST IS ILLEGAL’
A Lagos state-based legal practitioner, Barrister Bamidele Aturu told Sunday Trust that the exercise was illegal, and that there should be a way around it if a woman is pregnant, instead of forcing them to embark on pregnancy test.
Aturu said “the exercise is illegal, criminal, unlawful, barbaric, irresponsible, unconstitutional, unacceptable, evil and should be condemned the best possible way.” He called on these corps members to go to court to seek redress in order to stop such humiliation.