Corpers reject NYSC postings to North

Posted by admin Boko Haram, Headlines, NYSC (National Youth Service Corp) Saturday, July 16th, 2011

Presidency assures of security

AT no other time has the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme come under heavy attacks as now and the pressure may not ease any time soon going by the reaction that greeted the recent release of the Scheme’s batch A posting which has many corpers from the South-West, South-East and South-South finding themselves posted to highly volatile areas in the North-East zone of the country.

National Daily can confirm that the Abuja headquarters of the programme is presently under heavy siege from parents, guardians and their respective wards that are bent on lobbying the Secretariat to change its mind over their undesirable postings. Sources revealed that tons of notes from influential Nigerians such as Senators, Members of House of Representatives, former Ministers, Judges, top military officers, and Director-Generals of Parastatals have found their way to the office of the Director-General of NYSC, Brig. Gen. Maharazu Tsiga. It has got to a point that the man has not only abandoned his office but he has jettisoned his known mobile phone lines to avoid undue commitment.

The Storm
There has been strident call for the cancellation of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) by many Nigerians who believe the forty years old scheme has outlived its usefulness. In recent years, the scheme has been bedeviled by many problems, they said. The nightmare of youths who enthusiastically look forward to the scheme started afresh when a notorious militant religious sect known as Boko Haram (figuratively, “Western or non-Islamic education is a sin”) seeking the imposition of Shariah law in the northern states decided to ignore the essence of the NYSC programme and included defenseless corpers serving in various states the sect chooses to unleash mayhem as part of their target.

The group was founded in 2002 in Maiduguri by Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf and has carried out several attacks in Yobe, Bauchi, Borno, Adamawa, Jigawa and Niger States, and also the Federal capital Territory Abuja, resulting in over 700 reported dead amongst which are youth corpers.

Matters got to the extent that the Director-General, NYSC, Tsiga threatened to withdraw youth corps members serving in Borno state, should the insecurity posed by the persistent Boko Haram attacks continue.
Tsiga, who issued the threat in Maiduguri last March said ”we would not hesitate to withdraw all youth corps members serving in the state if the security situation fails to improve.
“We have done that in other states and I see no reason why we should not do same, if government fails to guarantee their security,” he said.

He pointed out that the corps members deserved to be treated with dignity and their security must be guaranteed as they strive in the service of their fatherland, saying, “I want to say categorically clearly, that the youths are diligent and committed Nigerians, who are rendering service to their country.”

The Director-General pointed out that, the organisation had cautioned the serving corps members in Borno state to be vigilant and adopt self-security measures, to be able to survive the current situation.
“The NYSC has been trying to collaborate with traditional rulers in the country to ensure the safety of corps members in their domain. We have also been encouraging the corps members to adopt self-security measures to ensure their safety in any environment.

“Security issues deserve collective efforts, which means that no matter how best the NYSC tries to protect the corps members, nothing will be achieved without societal support,” Tsiga said.

Tisga reenacted the same stance in Bauchi where he threatened to delist the state. ‘Henceforth, prospective corps members will not be posted to Bauchi State for their national service, except those who are indigenous and those who are married from there.” He declared

The NYSC said the state government had not given assurance that it could guarantee the safety of life and properties of corps members. Concessions would however be made for corps members, who deliberately wish to serve in the state either because it is their state of origin or because they are married to residents of the state or for any other reason, if they request it.

As sign of solidarity with the corpers Tsiga on behalf of the agency donated N10 million to 207 corps members who lost their property in the Boko Haram sectarian crisis in Borno State last July.

Tsiga, who made the donation in Maiduguri, gave N100,000 each to 67 corps members who lost their property, while N20,000 was given to each corps member who suffered psychological trauma.
The director-general, who sympathised with the corps members on the unfortunate incident, assured all corps members nationwide of adequate security and protection.

Last April in Jigawa State, the NYSC coordinator, Mr. Baba Ahmed, said he has withdrawn 350 corps members serving in Hadejia local government due to insecurity resulting from post election violence in the area.
Ahmed informed then that the corps members were taken from their places of primary assignments.
He explained that the decision became necessary because there was threat to their lives by hoodlums in the area.
“They called me and the DG, asking us to come and take them from Hadejia because their lives were not secure. They also reported to us that the irate youths stormed the police station, where they sought refuge, threatening them.” Ahmed disclosed.

Hadejia, Mallamadori and Jahun were among the towns that experienced post-election violence in the state.
Dons react
But Tsiga’s gesture may not be enough as the management of the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko in Ondo State, recently, expressed displeasure over the one-year national youth service posting of some of its students to northern states which it said were ‘violence prone’.

The Ondo State-owned institution, in a statement issued by its spokesperson, Sola Imoru, said it is still traumatised by the death of one of its alumni, Kehinde Jehleel Adeniji, who was killed during the violence that trailed the April 16 presidential election in Bauchi State.

Imoru said a situation where some of the students were still posted to these states without sufficient guarantee for their safety by the authority of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), in defiance of the University and other Nigerians’ calls for a bold review of the scheme, is unacceptable.

“In a nation where some youths in some parts of the country gather to fight the nation in the name of Boko Haram, posting educated youths to these states amounts to leading them to the slaughter slab,” the university said. “Less than 24 hours after Adekunle Ajasin University handed over call-up letters to its graduates for mobilisation into the compulsory national youth service, it was inundated and continues to be inundated with calls, visits and e-mails by parents and guardians, protesting the posting of their children and wards to states labelled as flash points of violence in the country.”

The university official said the Adekunle Ajasin University identifies with the fears and anxiety of recent graduates and their parents.
The institution also said it is of the view that no responsible government should allow students to be posted to states where they will be exposed to danger, adding that, “the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria says the security and welfare of the people shall be the main purpose of government.

It, therefore, requested that its graduates posted to northern states where there was violence should be deployed to other states in order to assuage the anxiety of their parents. “While the University believes in the principles underlying the establishment of the NYSC, it is of the opinion that, in the interim, graduating students should serve in their geopolitical zones until the Federal Government is able to effectively address the huge security challenges presently besetting the country,” Mr Imoru said in the statement.

The statement also called for a review of the posting decisions. “The Federal Government should therefore immediately put necessary measures in place to enlighten the Boko Haram sect, get them to toe the line of decency and guarantee the security of the people before returning the NYSC to its status quo.”

Illicit attack
A political analyst who discussed the issue with National Daily found no fault in the university and the parents’ actions, according to him, “With the spate of violence witnessed frequently in the northern part of the country and with casualties, mostly innocent people, witnessed every moment, there is need for caution. With Boko Haram releasing bombs almost every day in Borno state and some northern touts instigating riots, and corp members fall victims. It is clearly painful for a parent to spend hard-earned money to train his child, and when he/she goes to serve his/her country, he/she gets killed by an uncaring and clearly illiterate mob. The recent events in Bauchi are still fresh in memories.”

Speaking further, he noted that, “Every northerner who goes to the East on NYSC is guaranteed optimum security and acceptance. Every Easterner who goes to the South West gets the same treatment, I believe. The ideas of fostering unity and learning the culture and traditions of other tribes are usually achieved. It seems the north is clearly the problem area here. Rather than stopped, I would suggest the NYSC postings be done in a way people are posted where their securities are guaranteed. And, if they were not to be, security of the corp members should be looked into. They are the future of the nation.” He however discountenanced calls for the Federal Government to put an end to the programme, saying, “Stopping NYSC entirely is clearly not the best of ideas, in my opinion.”
As the major beneficiary of the services of youth corps members, Governors, understandably have been pleading for a review of the scheme as against outright cancellation advocated by the opponents of the scheme especially parents who beyond supporting their ward during the service year now also fear for the safety of their children in view of the recent events in Rivers state and other parts of the north.

The National Youth service Corps (NYSC) is part of social engineering efforts of the military to solve the structural problem of Nigeria federalism. It was established by Decree 24 of 22nd May 1973 (later repealed and replaced by Decree 51 of 16th June 1993) the objective includes the ‘encouragement and development of common ties among the youths of Nigeria and the promotion of national unity’. It also includes inculcating discipline in the youths, raising their moral tone, removing prejudice, eliminating ignorance and developing a sense of corporate existence and common destiny of Nigerian people.

That the scheme like other efforts as federal character, quota system of admission to universities and the civil service, has been mired in controversies.

FG intervenes
Reacting to recent development an aide to the DG informed that the posting to the North Eastern states was a matter of ‘state policy’ and that it is backed by an act of the government.

National Daily, however, gathered that signal has gone from the office of the National Security Adviser to concerned states on the issue and that adequate security measures have been stepped up all over the orientation camps. Also, the Presidency, competent sources informed, is liaising with state Governors to ensure that adequate security measures are put in place for serving corpers.

-National Dailywp_posts

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Posted by admin on Jul 16 2011. Filed under Boko Haram, Headlines, NYSC (National Youth Service Corp). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry