I have been seeking for the necessary motivation to have a go at
the once useful yearly pilgrimage fresh Nigerian graduates are made to “suffer”
under the guise of serving their nation. I must state that the recent
justification by the Director General of the National Youth Service Corps
(NYSC), Brig-General Jonhson Olawumi of a N4,000 fee imposed on prospective
corps members for printing of call-up letters has pushed me over the cliff to voice
my vote for the eternal termination of this waste of National resources called
NYSC. The man was quoted to have said that the monies were actually meant to
start off a private firm, SIDMACH Technologies Nigeria Limited that was
contracted to transport the NYSC into the jet age.
The NYSC scheme was initiated by the former army general and head
of state ‘Jack’ Gowon in 1973 shortly after the surrender of Biafra and an
almost three years sporadic civil war that still rages on in the subconsciousness
of many “conscripted” Nigerians. The scars of war and associated collateral
damage were not amenable to mere slogan chanting and assurances of restoration.
“One Nigeria” rhetoric reigned during the conflict and Gowon declared the war as a “no
contest” when Col. Effiong led his team to offer their surrender in Lagos.
The apparent ethnic coloration of the three divisions of the Nigerian army that
effectively boxed in Biafra can be argued to have further deepened ill feelings
in the nation especially with the events that characterized the war and those
which ensued thereafter and are rehashed till this day. Gowon must have thought
that an exchange program of supposedly educated minds across the nation would
have helped to cover the cracks exposed by persistent artillery shells and massacres.
The young man then must have thought that the presence of young, dynamic and well-mannered
graduates in the midst of unfamiliar, hostile and suspicious communities could
help purge those lands of animosity and their thirst for vengeance and as the
case may have be; more violence. Gowon also initiated the Unity schools project
which was meant to harness students from every nook and cranny of the nation to
learn and develop together at various locations across the nation. I must state
that these projects were perhaps very good ideas at the time of conception;
many friendships and marriages can be traced to the relative success of such
projects. Many learnt new languages, married from formerly unknown tribes and
helped in no small measure to attempt the re-unification of the state; if there
ever was genuine unity ab initio.
The NYSC program is meant to run for a year commencing with a three
weeks orientation program boot-camp style under the boots of marauding soldiers
usually non-commissioned officers supervised by a junior army officer. I am
curious to know the individual(s) who get these now three batches a year
contracts to supply uniforms, footwear, mattresses, food and all the
ingredients necessary to ensure graduates survive three weeks in largely
hostile environments unbefitting for livestock in most states. The quality of
materials used to sew these poorly designed attires remains a mystery;
prisoners in certain climes get better kitted than graduates “serving” their
nation. The varying shades, increased wrinkling properties, limited sizes and
pathetic belts makes one wonder when the NYSC officials begin to brag to the “corpers”
about the individual cost of these lame uniforms. They usually say that
participants are “ỌmỌ ìjỌba”; which can be translated to mean the wards of the
government or in some cases; it may be a reference to mentally unstable
individuals of our society who the people expect to be cared for by the
government. I will choose to translate that Yoruba phrase to mean “government
property”, human gadgets that are used to do the government’s dirty jobs and
other auxiliary functions as the needs arise. The conditions under which those
who submit themselves to these 12months away from the familiar can only be
described in my world as slavery. They say people need to learn how to survive
with meagre resources and make the most of whatever their host communities
present to them. What utter rubbish! I believe this scheme has outlived its
usefulness and has degenerated and become gangrenous instructing the vast
majority of its participants to either imbibe corruption or tolerate mediocrity
and poverty.
I want to assume that the NYSC scheme is supposed to be a watered
down type of conscription into the military or compulsory/ voluntary paramilitary-
military service practiced in several countries. I wonder why the Corp is
headed by only army generals, why are the other military arms not involved in
the drills that mark the initial three weeks or why are they not in the
administration of the scheme altogether? I may not be aware if such
developments do in fact exist. As at 1973 when it all started, Nigeria had no
established Airforce corp and the Navy only paled when compared with the boys
in green khaki. The army dominated everything and practically forced the nation
to conform under their dictates. Why did it have to be educated graduates to
spend a compulsory 12 months campaign under extremely harsh and sometimes
inhumane conditions? Why did the military reinforce the doctrine of national
service if not to keep a leash on those capable of utilizing their knowledge to
disarm them? Why have successive civilian administrations not deemed it fit to
scrap military creations such as monthly sanitation days and the NYSC scheme or
at least review or modify them? The military mentality seems permanently
engrained even in “agbáda” wearing taskmasters of modern Nigeria; perhaps these
people are just executing from the military and corrupt officials playbook to
keep their grip firmly on the reign of power. I would seriously have preferred a
national service that involves full military: Army, Airforce and Navy training
with the option of pursuing a military career subsequently. If many more
graduates are equipped with the knowledge of military tactics and weaponry
instead of executing “frog jumps”, perhaps the predator ruling elite would
tread with caution when dealing with Nigerians.
Some countries are known to have compulsory military service
especially for men of a certain age range. Some nations are constantly under threat
from hostile neighbors hence the need for more boots; some are too small and
unable to maintain full-time military services. Some nations make this service
optional while some provide non-military alternatives. A few nations consider the
female gender, unfit statuses and religious values to make exceptions; a few
countries give options of a short period of intensive military training or in
some cases there are refresher courses held periodically to ensure a pool of
capable individuals in case of emergencies. Conscription is constantly reviewed
by serious nations and has been terminated altogether in certain countries. The
NYSC has basically been run the same way since inception; the same amount for bicycle
allowance is reimbursed to corpers after a few days of the orientation program.
The organizers do not concern themselves with where the corp members have
traveled from or how they got to the states they were posted. What kind of nation
watches on as fresh graduates in their early 20s embark on potentially suicidal night travels in order to beat a deadline for resumption? Would it be too much
if every reporting graduate travelling for journeys longer than 4 or 5 hours
get free air travel passes when they present their call up letters? We all know
how government officials travel within and outside the country for just leisure;
I would not want to go into the pocket money and patterned bags they tag along or the regular travel
contingents of the incumbent emperor of the Nigerian state. I remember standing
in line listening to a few fellow corpers before me as we waited to collect
about N1000 bicycle allowance at the improvised Bukuru camp in Plateau state. They
were seriously planning how they would cautiously spend that meagre sum to
augment their feeding during the remaining days of the orientation. Tales abound
from different states over the years, my personal experiences in Plateau state
is enough to indict the NYSC authorities and curb the leaches who have their
fangs deep into the nation’s resources to feed fat almost eternally.
The author of the scheme is from Kanke in Plateau state but the
state shamefully did not have a permanent orientation camp as at 2008 when I
was there; I am not certain if that is still the status quo at the moment. We were
informed that an abandoned police college allegedly refurbished by the state
NYSC served as the camp site for a few years until 2007 when the police abruptly
ended that relationship and reclaimed their property. This prompted the state
director to oscillate back and forth before settling for a fenceless and
rickety day primary/ secondary school close to the entrance to the road that
cuts through the main part of Bukuru Town in the Jos South local government
area. I arrived the day before camp opened and hurled my travel bag to join a
long queue outside the school at about 10 am the next morning. I was glad to see my
friend Tayo from medical school as well as a few others. Tayo and I tagged on
together and were almost the pawns of overzealous NCOs who breached their
non-existent fence to terrorize those of us waiting in line outside. The line never
appeared to move in an anterograde direction and all forms of registration
ceased when evening came and we found ourselves still outside the gate when it
became dark. There was a massive rush into the compound with many headed for a
large hall that was located approximately in the centre of the school. We followed
the mob and we soon arranged benches to sleep on with our bags serving as
pillows. We eventually registered the next morning after another chaotic scene
that commenced at about 5am. At the time of registration, it was obvious that
there was no longer space in the areas earmarked as hostels. The makeshift
hostels with bunks within had become filled up leaving hundreds of male and
female corpers with only mattresses in hand to find refuge. Tayo opted to
remain in the hall we slept the night prior while I moved on with Jeje and
another doctor to locate the camp clinic; a place we ate, slept, and attended
to the sick for the next 20 days. It was no bigger than roughly 5 metal bunks,
examination bed and wooden table it contained. The space was further diminished
by the dominant camp matron who carved out a limited area for herself and her
assistant where they also slept without necessarily contributing much to the
welfare of the corp members. We had over 20 of us caged in like sardines most
times two on a bed space while some of us like Bayo my physiotherapist friend
from the University of Ibadan slept regularly on the floor. The transformed
high school had become host to about 2,024 graduates overnight many of whom had to live
below sane conditions for three weeks of their lives; braving the constant
rains and muddy ground with near freezing conditions especially during early
morning activities which initiated hypothermia and occasionally exacerbated asthmatic attacks.
The very first set of complaints at the camp clinic was centered on
the adverse effects of consuming poorly prepared food especially beans. Soon we
were dealing with hypothermia and asthma on a daily basis in a clinic whose landlady
nurse did not deem it fit to request for more blankets and hot water bottles in
September. The two physiotherapists we had soon became celebrities managing sprained
limbs especially of the female type following volleyball games. Malaria, falls,
a dislocated shoulder, two sickle cell crises and a nearly ruptured ovarian
cyst were some of the cases that presented to a clinic where no requisition was
made for normal saline and some basic medications. These event were enough to
tip one over the edge but we somehow stayed intact particularly drawn together
by the dynamic and selfless pint sized Dr Patricia who cracked the jokes and at
the same time stayed awake almost throughout one crucial night to ensure that
one young lady in active sickle cell crisis got enough doses of pain killers
from the impoverished stock supplied by Plateau NYSC. Pat became very popular
even among other corp members and there was widespread expression of compassion
when she became ill with malaria during the endurance trek. What a woman she
is. Those of us in the clinic hardly ate camp food because of the fear of
getting infected and mainly because we could afford better prepared meals at
the “mammy” market; we could not afford to be sick and unable to attend to
other sick individuals. There was a day of strike during those three weeks as a
result of food dispute with those who managed it and what we perceived as
insensitivity of the camp director who we sought for clarification. We had a
Mangu born young lad who helped us with errands in the clinic and he was sent on
that morning to get food for the few who were “on call” and those who just wanted to
eat the camp food. He got there but was turned away and told to tell those
working in the clinic to join the queue if they wanted food. We found it
strange that anyone could have said such and went to report to the director who
supported the stance of his subject saying that NYSC was a levelling ground and
everybody would be treated similarly. We simply shut the doors and went to
partake in all the other activities that many had been unable to do because of
duties at the clinic. It was the sick who ensured that everything was restored
to normal. Is that not how the government of the day handles such critical
issues as the healthcare of her people?
I remember the governor Jonah Gang speaking in his normal near mute
tone to us during one of those early days. He talked largely to himself but the
corpers were sensitive enough when he mentioned that 4 cows would be sent to
the camp to augment our protein requirements. The people cheered but I was
alarmed. Four cows for 2,000 people? “For what now?” The four lean cows
eventually arrived like a scene from the dream of pharaoh interpreted by Joseph
and I wondered if corpers could not give themselves a treat by buying more than
4 lean cows. We walked about with jungle boots most times because of the rains
and paid 20 or 30 naira for steaming water to have our baths at improvised
bathrooms sometimes accidentally barging into exposed females showering in
adjacent rooms. This occasional accidents were in fact normal events in the
school hall that served as a mixed hostel for both genders for not less than
one week after camp opened. I cannot imagine the scenes that Tayo was exposed
to while he slept there; the ladies had become desensitized to the presence of
the men and were reported to change their clothes at will. What kind of country
puts her young females through such embarrassment without caring? They eventually
moved the ladies away from the hall into another improvised block that was
located behind the camp clinic while the lads continued to sleep on benches in
the hall that ought to have been used for social activities; the activities all
took place in the open under the sun or in the rain reminiscent of the most
awful anthem I have ever heard in my life. The space provided to house the
ladies could only be likened to a refugee camp. We witnessed this when we were
called to help sedate and console a young woman who had inadvertently been
telephoned while men slept and told of the demise of her mother. Walking gingerly
past rows and columns of sleeping African women reminiscent of slave ships to
get to the wailing lady broke my heart. I cannot forget the look of my friend
Precious as she lay beside her friend Tega on a metal bunk when we walked past;
she forced a smile even though she must have been startled by the inconsolable lady.
Perhaps a description similar to Nazi concentration camps would have been more
appropriate. These same ladies were exposed to repeated assault by pervert
soldiers who took advantage to assault them, one time tearing at the trouser of
a young female who they claimed dressed inappropriately in jeans instead of the
regularly faded green jump suits.
We made it through those three weeks and I had to decline my place
of primary assignment posting letter. I was the only dentist in camp and
expected to get posted to Jos. It was a huge surprise when I read that I had
been posted to the Bokkos local government office. It took me a while to realize
that the fellow who filled in the forms wrote my degree as B. Ed instead of
BDS. I had to visit Bokkos twice which is about 1 hour away from Jos to get
myself refused and free to get posted elsewhere. I was almost knocked down by a
station wagon that lost control and narrowly missed me as I jumped and clung on
to the vehicle I had just waved down to transport me back to Jos. It was a
really close shave but one cannot fail to mention the many graduates, who died
while travelling, through illness, killed in political or ethnic crisis and
those who got missing and never found. What kind of nation hardly offers reasonable
compensation for wasted human resources?
Why do we have to keep faith with a scheme that is ravaged by
injustice and favoritism? How can a system where children of sacred cows hardly
show up in 12 months before gallantly walking up to receive their certificates
after paying fronts to cover their absence? How can a system which had a policy
on pregnant women altered permanently to accommodate the wife of the erstwhile corruption
plagued speaker of the National Assembly and potential Ogun state governorship
aspirant be trusted? Why do women not to mention pregnant women be compelled to
attend such rigors in the first place? Why do people still get posted to
violence laden areas all in the name of national service? Should it be by
force? The children of political elites do not necessarily observe this service
but it does not stop them from occupying the portfolios opened up to them by
their parents and relatives while the son or daughter of the common man gets
repeatedly asked about certificate of youth service completion.
Service year allowed me to partly overcome my phobia for long
distance travels. I had the pleasure to visit very good places and this has
helped to reconstruct my perspective of the Nigerian state. I will not be
caught talking naively and stereotypically about other Nigerians who differ in
culture and religion. I have come to realize that Nigeria is a vast territory
with brilliant and gifted minds all over the regions capable of leading this
nation to fulfilment. There is no point sending a first class mechanical
engineering graduate to the backside of a desert to teach students Geography or
to scatter agricultural science graduates across the federation to teach all
kinds of subjects for a measly 3,000 naira a month. Nigerians can serve their
Nation in more refined ways. Agricultural graduates may in fact not see many
opportunities in their course of study. If the service year for example was
spent spreading such individuals to agricultural research institutes and highly
merchandised farms, they would not need to become disillusioned and restless
for banking or clerical jobs. Many end NYSC year without a clue of what they
can do. The military and paramilitary forces are deserving of highly
intelligent and educated individuals, there is nothing wrong if a voluntary
national service scheme was geared towards encouraging better educated people
to join the police, Immigration, customs and the military instead of the trigger
happy and psychologically unstable people trusted with AK47s. NYSC should be more
than door to door immunization sessions or serving as returning officers during
elections. It is more than a race among corpers to receive a presidential
reward that other more honest and hardworking people are deserving of. These
crude attempts to motivate young people with rewards could only aid the development
of schism and greed as one individual attempts to out-manoeuver another for
personal gain.
Nigeria is like a waste land at the moment, NYSC does not help us
to maximize our potential; it only reinforces a culture of waste and
opportunism. Those who have been getting regular contracts to supply inferior
hardware and giving testimony to their pastors will never allow such pipeline
to be sealed. The General that wants to collect 4,000 naira cannot be serious, the
1000naira Immigration collected is still pending and unaccounted for. NYSC in my honest opinion has
drifted from usefulness. Optional, well remunerated military or paramilitary
commands should be opened up to graduates; research facilities and
opportunities to learn firsthand how government business is run should be
readily available. If graduates must teach, the dignity of that profession
should be adequately restored.
Nigerians should not be slaves in their own nation, the federal
government should not treat graduates as they choose without them having a say.
Senators cannot manage millions in furniture, newspaper or entertainment
allowances; Goodluck Jonathan cannot manage one presidential aircraft, why
should the children of Nigerians be asked to manage a few thousands of naira
from the government and chicken change from their place of primary assignment
in a month?
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Jide Akeju
12/09/14
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