TODAY IN HISTORY: Many Killed as Manchester Arena Was Bombed During Ariana Grande Show - NYSC Formed

Many Killed as Manchester Arena Was Bombed During Ariana Grande Show

On May 22, 2017, tragedy struck the Manchester Arena as a suicide bomber unleashed an explosion just as Ariana Grande's concert came to an end. The blast claimed the lives of 22 persons and left 116 others injured, making it the deadliest act of terrorism in Britain since the 2005 London metro bombings.

The atmosphere of youthful enjoyment swiftly turned to chaos and fear as the explosion ripped through the crowd, sending people scrambling for safety. ISIS later claimed responsibility for the deadly attack.

Afterward, frantic parents, friends, and family members embarked on a desperate search for their loved ones. Social media became a tool for those seeking information, with the #manchesterarena hashtag being used to inquire about the well-being of missing individuals. Emergency services were inundated with over 240 calls, and a large-scale search involving 60 ambulances and 400 police officers began. Sadly, the youngest victim was 8-year-old Saffie Roussos from Lancashire.

A 22-year-old Salman Abedi, a Manchester native of Libyan descent, was identified as the attacker. Investigators believed that Abedi had become radicalized during a trip to Libya in 2011.

Ariana Grande expressed her profound sorrow, tweeting, "From the bottom of my heart, I am so so sorry. I don't have words." To show solidarity, she returned to Manchester eleven days later to visit wounded fans and the families of the victims.

NYSC Formed

The National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, was established on this day in 1973, by decree No. 24 during the reign of General Yakubu Gowon. Coming after the divisive Nigerian Civil War, the NYSC was to help foster the reconstruction, rehabilitation, and reconciliation plans of the government in the country. Its core aims were to encourage common ties among the Nigerian youths and cultivate a sense of unity to achieve national development.

Nigeria, as a developing nation, grapples with multifaceted challenges including poverty, widespread illiteracy, a scarcity of skilled professionals compounded by their uneven distribution, and glaring deficiencies in socioeconomic infrastructure and housing. These are some of the problems NYSC tackles by deploying youths who graduated from Nigerian tertiary institutions to various parts of the country to serve their fatherland and help their host communities.