Serving their Fatherland

When I heard that the Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Major-General Maharazu Tsiga, announced a plan to utilise 400,000 youth corps members serving in different parts of the country as electoral officers in the forthcoming general elections, I remembered my secondary school days. Each time we recited the National Pledge, we had a version the principal must not hear; it went:
I pledge to Nigeria my country,

To be faithful, loyal and honest,
To serve Nigeria is not by force…But come to think of it, is service to Nigeria a matter of necessity? Or simply put, is it by force? I leave the answer to the patriotic level of your mind.

An obvious way of serving the fatherland is the NYSC scheme. It was created to reconcile, rehabilitate and reconstruct the country after the Civil War. Decree 24 of 1973 stated that the NYSC was established "with a view to the proper encouragement and development of common ties among the youths of Nigeria and the promotion of national unity". But I daresay that the aims of this programme, which include promotion of cross-fertilisation of ideas, reduction of erroneous impressions about tribal and religious beliefs among groups in Nigeria, have been defeated.

The death of Chuks Ugoeze, Samuel Utazi and Adesola Ajaiye in Niger State in 2009, and the merciless killing of corps members in the 2008 Jos crisis have left a scar that cannot be erased from our hearts. Some were raped while others were killed by hostile community members. What has the government done about the killings? Who has been prosecuted? Perhaps my secondary school assumption is correct; "to serve Nigeria is not by force".

Someone once wrote: "NYSC members are sometimes maimed, raped and killed; they are housed in dilapidated buildings, forced to eat malnourished food and drink unhygienic water. They are given peanuts at the end of the month as if they were beggars. After subjecting them to 12 months of hardship, they are released into the labour market to hunt for jobs and fend for themselves".

The government has been unfair to our young graduates. What could be more embarrassing than paying a graduate less than N10,000 a month, all in the name of service to a fatherland? And now, the same government, through the INEC, is set to send about 400,000 young Nigerians on genocide. If not genocide, what do we call it, knowing the tendencies of our politicians who arte currently stocking up arms for the elections which have become wars for them?

Tsiga was quoted to have said that the decision to use corps member was to help ensure free and fair elections in 2011. They will be given a new orientation on their role in Nigeria’s development. Involvement in the conduct of the general elections is expected to be their contribution to the deepening of democracy in Nigeria. He said this at the NYSC camp in Abia State.

Good as it sounds, can anyone dare to raise his voice to argue the situation of electoral violence in Nigeria? Have INEC and the government put all the structures in place for a smooth running of the election? Beyond plans for the physical conduct of the elections, INEC should not forget other weighty matters such as the review of the voters’ register and the prompt passage of the Electoral Act into law. Everything that is necessary should be done to empower those who are expected to deliver a credible poll.

Now, let’s go to the heart of the matter. Of course the corpers are going on this adventure of risk, no doubt. But there are certain things that the government must check. NYSC and the INEC must demonstrate great care in the deployment of corps members, there is need to understand that the corpers are outside their normal terrains. Utmost care, therefore, should be taken to properly train them for the work to be done, as well as protect them.

It is also important to encourage them with prospects of job opportunities with INEC and other relevant agencies. Security of youth corps members on this assignment is paramount. As an aspiring corper, I speak on behalf of millions of Nigerian youths and we say we cannot afford to lose even one of the corpers to electoral violence.



Oluwatayo, 300-L Mass Comm., UNILAG