General Yakubu Gowon became the Head of State in the counter-coup of July 1966 and after the assasination of the Head of State then, General Aguyi Ironsi.
The taking over of General Yakubu Gowon led to the brotherly war of 1967 when Col.Ojukwu refused to recognise the authority of General Gowon on the ground that General was not the most senior military officer. He then declared Biafra nation as an independent and sovereign country.
The civil war ended in 1970, but the effect of the civil war was lack of trust among the ethnic groups that made up Nigeria. Something had to be done to restore hope and trust and so an idea was concieved.
General Gowon then used decree 24 to create the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme in 1973. The aim was to create unity and reconcilliation by making it mandatory fo all Nigerian graduates under 30 years old to serve the country for one year. It was believed that the scheme would foster strong ties among the youth as they will be posted outside their region to another region.
Genuine integration was needed if Nigeria will remain one and the youth ( graduates ) were the tools that can make it happen. The scheme actually worked at that time, there were inter-marriages then. Everlasting friendshhip were formed, gradually hope and trust returned to Nigeria.
Nigeria was good, the military ruler maintained law and order. Even the civillian government under Alhaji Shehu Shagari continued the NYSC programme and it was great.
Religeon was not an issue then and that was why Bola Ige, a Christian picked Sunday Afolabi as his running mate and nothing happened. The maitasine ( a fundamentalist Islamic group) riot of Kano in 1980 was quickly crushed though the lives of 4177 civilians and 100 policemen were cut off from the surface of the earth as a result of the blood-sucking group riot.
Even with that the NYSC was still functioning properly and the reasons behind its establishment were still there.
Fastforward to this new era of Boko Haram, the bandits and the Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria, we can see that times have changed and many youth corps members have lost their lives or kidnapped by Boko Haram. The hope for unity by integration has long dissappeared. One Yoruba adage says ‘ the goat is happy to be identified as offspring of the sheep but the Sheep maintained that its mother never gave birth to black. ( Ewure ko so wipe oun ko se omo Aguntan, Aguntan loni iya oun ko bi dudu). Life is worth more than anything and so the safety and security of the corps members should be our priority and not an archaic decree or sentiments of tradition.
Nigeria is now in perillous time and posting a graduate to other regions for unity and integration does no longer worth it. Imagine a parent who has spent and trained a child up to the university level and then was forced by the mandatory requirement of NYSC to serve his mother land in Borno and other hotspots for Boko Haram and the bandits.
I will submit that options should be given to the students whether they want to remain in their geo-political zone or outside their zone. This is fundanmetal as recently, the Federal Government has temporarily closed all the Unity Schools as a preventive measure. The same should be done to the corps members they should redeploy them to their geo-political zone where they can look after themselves properly or even to their state of origin.
A situation where they are kidnapping and killing the youth corps members in the North by Boko Haram, the bandits and the herdsmen should no longer continue.
Apparently, the Federal Government has made it clear by conduct that they can no longer offer them protection and they are on their own. The spate of Kidnappiings and killings in Kwara State, Niger, Kebbi, and other places were clear demonstrations that the government has lost it. The government needs to show courage.
While we are not calling for the abolition of the scheme, it needs be revisited and certain changes be made so as to guarantee the security and safety of our Corps members.
One of the functions of the government as enshrined in Section 14 our constitution is security of lives and propertiies. If a government can no longer perform this functons, such government has failed and guilty of dereliction of duty.
Niyi Aborisade is a legal luminary, a human rights movement, historian and author.
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