Category: Interview

A few months away from now, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) will be 40 years. Established by Decree 24 of May 22, 1973, the scheme has gone through a purple patch, socially and culturally. In this interview with Assistant Editor, Linus Obogo, immediate-past Chairman of the Governing Board, Chief Linus Emonse Okom (OON), lauds the idea behind the scheme, just as he flays those calling for its scrapping. Excerpts:

As the immediate past Chairman of the Board of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), how would you assess the success or the otherwise of the scheme, in terms of objectives, nearly 40 years after?

I will say it proudly that the objectives have been achieved. This can also be attested to by the various participants, both past and present that the objectives have been achieved. There is no one who will tell you that he or she was not excited about the scheme. And there is no present participant who will say that he or she is not happy about the scheme.

Culturally and socially, the scheme has achieved a lot. Hitherto, there were some Nigerians who may not have had the opportunity of knowing where Abuja was or where Port Harcourt, Ogoja or Sokoto was. But today, with the NYSC scheme, they have been able to know where these towns are located and they have interacted with the locals of these towns. Apart from knowing where some of the cities and villages are located, the NYSC scheme has also afforded participants the social benefits of inter-marriage.

Until the recent security challenges, virtually every NYSC member wanted to be posted outside of their towns and villages. But this is not to say that corps members are still not being posted to states other than their state of origin or state of their choice.

The scheme was initiated on May 22, 1973 by the then head of state, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd.) with the objective of forging cultural and social integration at the end of the Civil War in 1970. He must be commended for his foresight.

The operation of the scheme was designed to be a tripartite affair between the federal, state and local government. While the Federal Government sees to the financial welfare of the participants, the states were to assist in the area of transit accommodation during camping, while local governments intervene in the area of transportation, which often times is not available because they do not have the means. And this is where the challenge has been.

There is also the challenge of security, both at the state and local governments. Even when the issue of accommodation is addressed, security, in recent times, has remained a thorny issue because of the emergence of insurgency in some part of the country. I must state, however, that the issue of security has not proved insurmountable to the government. It has always been the responsibility of the government to provide security and it has never failed.

With respect to the corps members’ stipend, as the chairman of the board, my board had recommended to the government to carry out a review, which it did. Today, corps members receive a stipend of about N19, 800. It is negligible though, but it is an improvement on what used to obtain. So, in a nutshell, I can say that the objectives of the scheme, since its inception, have been achieved. There has never been a time that the scheme has been found to have outlived its relevance. It is just of recent that the issue of insecurity started raising its head,q1aw and this is peculiar to some states in the North.

There is the criticism that the scheme has become mere cosmetic, especially as corps members pass out at the end of the service with no future guaranteed them. How do you react to the issue of employment discrimination against corps members in some part of the country?

Well, this aspect you spoke about was not injected into the decree setting up the corps in 1973. The observation is well taken, but it did not form part of the decree that as a matter of compulsion, corps members must be engaged by their host communities. But I want to say that it is not all corps members who are usually not engaged at the end of their service year. Some host communities, governments and organisations are generous enough to engage those considered to have excelled in their primary assignment. In any case, it is the prerogative or the discretion of any state, or organisation to engage whomever they want to engage since there is no compelling statute or decree that says that at the end of the service year of corps members, they must be given mandatory employment. But on the whole, and to the best of my knowledge as the immediate past Chairman of the Governing Board of the NYSC, governments and organisations have continued to provide employment to deserving corps members whenever such vacancies exist.

It will interest you to know that in Bekwarra Local Government Area of Cross River State, there are some corps members of South West extraction who were offered permanent teaching appointments in the council because they were adjudged to have offered quality service deserving of being retained. They have imbibed the culture of their host, so much so that they speak Bekwarra language better than some indigenes. Quite a good number of them are excited about it and they are proud to be considered worthy for placement in the council teaching service. So, it is not entirely true that corps members are usually discriminated against when it comes to employment. There may be a few isolated cases, but it is not enough to draw a generalised conclusion. In the state civil service, it all depends on the chief executive of the state, the governor. If he is given a favourable report about some particular corps members and there are vacancies for their engagement, they are employed without prejudices to where they may hail from. But to say it is imperative that they must be given employment, it is not correct because that is not included in the decree or the Act of the parliament setting up the scheme.

A lot of Nigerians have expressed concerns that the NYSC has outlived its usefulness and as such, it should be scrapped outright. Do you agree with this?

I do not agree that the scheme has outlived its usefulness. I do not also agree that it should be scrapped. If you ask many of the corps members themselves if government should scrap the scheme, they will tell you no. They will strongly kick against it. To be honest, the integration aspect of the scheme has worked effectively. The only sore point is the state of insecurity in some parts of the North, which has taken the shine out of it. I am aware that during the last general elections, some of the corps members were attacked and killed. Perhaps that is why some are quick to conclude that the scheme has outlived its usefulness. So far, the scheme has hugely succeeded and it should be allowed to continue because it is still relevant. Those who suggest the scrapping of NYSC do not wish Nigeria well. A pocket of insurgency in some parts of the country is not enough to call for the scrapping of the scheme. the benefits outweigh any other consideration.

As the immediate past chairman of the Governing Board of the NYSC, what aspect would you recommend for review, if you were to recommend a review of the policy?

I will recommend that for the scheme to succeed and remain relevant, government should strengthen security in areas that have become seemingly unsafe for corps members to live and carry out their primary duties. This is very important in the face of the emerging security challenges in the country.

But bear in mind that Nigeria is not the only country with this type of scheme. You will find a similar scheme in the United States of America, where young people are allowed compulsory two-year service in the military. It is just a matter of whatever name any country may give to its own scheme. My recommendation is that government should look into the aspect of providing adequate security, particularly in volatile states.

There have been suggestions that one of the ways to make the scheme more relevant is to redirect the focus where participants will serve a compulsory two-year service in the military, following which they can be fully absorbed into the army, air force, navy or the police. How agreeable are you with this?

This is entirely beyond any individual, whether in the service or outside the service. The NYSC has since become an Act of the National Assembly or parliament, and for that suggestion to have any force of law, a bill has to be sent to the National Assembly for the amendment of the Act to make it possible for corps members to serve a compulsory two years in the military. It is only the National Assembly that can bring about this change.

Even if I wish this to happen, it will be a mere wishful thinking because I do not have the power to make it possible. The National Assembly is the only body that can make this possible through an amendment to the Act establishing the scheme.

During my time as Chairman of the board, I found out that Bayelsa was not accepting corps members who were particular about serving in the bank. They insisted that they be sent to the classrooms to teach. Later on, Rivers State followed suit. The idea was to make the scheme as relevant to the need of these states as it could be. That was as far as the scheme could be interfered with. But beyond that, only the National Assembly has the last say.

If changes are effected to make the corps members to be integrated into the army, navy, air force or the police, you will be polluting the atmosphere in these services. Things will no longer be the same. It might bring about bad blood. While it is the disposition of America to allow a compulsory two-year service in the military, it is not our disposition. Else, General Gowon would have decreed so.

Ahead of 2015, the North is already asking that the presidency should return to that part of the country. As a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is the agitation in order?

From all indications, it is obvious that as Nigerians, we do not have self-discipline. If indeed, we are disciplined, what we should be focusing on is good governance. 2015 is a long way off and we should not be preoccupied with that for now. Rather, this government should be supported to ensure that it succeeds in delivering the gains of democracy.

As a people, Nigerians are too much in a hurry to cross the bridge even before getting to it. It should rather be the other way round. I am sure that by the time we get closer to 2015, there will be compromises on what is right for the country. But for now, it is too early to discuss 2015.

Nigeria is today embroiled in endemic corruption with every facet of our national life neck-deep in the pandemic. Would you say both successive and present governments have done enough in the fight against corruption?

When Nigerians say corruption has become deep-rooted, I laugh. We tend to narrow corruption only to politicians and governance. But everywhere, there is corruption. There is corruption in churches, in schools, in the homes, in the family. There is nowhere that there is no corruption.

There is a way that you tell someone ‘good morning’ and it is well taken. But there is another way that you may say it and it is perceived as corruption.

Any behaviour that you put up that is seen not to be transparent, it is corruption. Anything done outside the norms which may have nothing to do with money could also be seen as corruption. Corruption is already here with us. Nobody can end corruption in a way we tend to prescribe. The only thing to do is to minimise it.

There is no country in the world that is free of corruption. The only difference is the degree. If there was any country that is free of corruption, then there would have been no need for the Transparency International to grade or rate countries on the basis of corruption index. Let us not be fooled here, corruption is not all about money and misappropriation of it. It is about doing what we ought not to do in terms of our dealings with our fellow human beings- social, religious and business relationship with others. It is not only when it involves money that we assume it is corruption. It is a wrong notion. When a father or a mother loves one of his or her children more than the others, it is corruption because you are discriminating against the other children.

The day we woke up and decided to concentrate our attention on only oil, while forsaking agriculture, groundnut, cocoa, coal, cotton, to me, that was corruption. As long as we continue to highlight corruption from the standpoint of money, we will be missing the true meaning of corruption.

There are agitations for the creation of more states in the country and Ogoja, being one of the old provinces with Afikpo and Abakiliki under it, is today the only one that has neither not been made a state capital nor a state created for it. What do you make of this?

That is part of the corruption we are talking about. This is a perfect example of corruption. Like you rightly noted, Ogoja as a province, had Afikpo, Abakiliki under it. That was when we used to talk about the COR State. Then we later had South Eastern States, but today, we have states like Rivers, Ebonyi, Kogi, among others. Sadly enough, nobody is talking about Ogoja state. In those days, we had people like the late Chief I.I Murphy who championed our cause. Today, we have nobody to fight our case. But then, it is still corruption which is why Ogoja is being left out of state creation. If there was justice, you do not need anyone to make a case for it, it should have been created like any other. One day, we may have a messiah who will deliver us.

There is an alleged force in Cross River State today called the “Three Musketeers of Power”- Duke, Imoke and Gershom Bassey, in the state politics, which has reportedly perfected plans to rule the state in that order. In the spirit of zoning, justice and equity, where does that leave the Northern Senatorial Zone of the state in 2015?

Politics of participation is very good when zoning is an issue. And this is inherent in the politics of the creation of senatorial zones in the state. When you consider a situation or scenario where two out of three brothers have taken part in a meal and the third person has not had a taste of it, without any prompting, do you not think that it is only fair to allow the third person to have his share?

So, in the contest of power rotation, power should naturally go to where the third senatorial zone has not had a taste of it. And that is the Northern Cross River. Luckily for the zone, we have a God-fearing governor in the person of Senator Liyel Imoke (CON). He has told us at various town hall meetings that “we in the Central and in the Southern zones have enjoyed power from 1999 to 2015 or thereabout. It is only proper that the Northern Senatorial Zone should produce the next governor in 2015.” Governor Imoke is a gentleman, a man of honour and a man of his word. He has continued to assure us of his promise to us and so far, there is nothing to suggest that he will renege on his promise. He is a man of fairness, justice and equity. The zone has the personnel, the skills and wisdom to take up the challenge of ruling the state in 2015. What we are praying for is the unity of purpose and God will definitely grant us our prayers. It is on the basis of political morality that Governor Imoke is saying that power should go to the North in 2015. The trinity you are talking about knows that the state is made up of three zones, otherwise, Duke should have handed over to his fellow Southern zone brother. But he handed over to the Central and it is in that order that the North is awaiting its turn in 2015, after which Gershom can aspire and have it.

What happens if the North does not have it in 2015?

It will be unthinkable. I really do not know how that will happen that the North cannot have it