Young graduates serving their fatherland as members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) deployed to Benue State have shown that anyone could wipe tears away from faces of the needy. On seeing an amputee student, Sunday Tartenger, of All Saints Academy, Ahine, Makurdi, who was unable to pay his fees and was thus confronted with hardship, participants in the Community Development Scheme (CDS) in the area decided to take up the burden from the indigent and physically challenged boy. They succeeded in clearing the N36,000 school fees and got their supervisor, Mr. Anaja Mohammed, involved. Anaja was moved by the commitment of the corps members and pledged to see what could be done to sustain the initiative.
This is the way to go if Nigeria is to fully harness the potential of all her citizens. It is unfortunate that governments at various levels have failed to guarantee social security as well as provide scholarship for the challenged, compatriots could fill the gap by sharing what is available with the indigent. The example of these corps members should be embraced by all, as there is nothing too little to share with the less privileged. Sunday’s parents could barely hold their joy as they saw the impact of the young ones’ efforts. We commend their giving out of the pittance they receive as allowances to Sunday and hope the NYSC would live up to the pledge to extend the gesture to full scholarship to university level. Everyone could contribute to filling yawning gaps in the society if we are determined.
The effort has once again illustrated the failure of government to put in place viable scholarship schemes and loans for students. This is the way even affluent societies have travelled over the years. Brilliant students hardly drop out of school on account of paucity of funds. Both the public and private sectors have put in place institutional mechanisms that keep the indigent off the streets. In Nigeria today, the physically challenged still hold the short end of the stick as there is no provision for them in public schools, nor are they able to afford the cut-throat fees of private school proprietors. These corps members have shown that where there is a will, there is a way.
It is unfortunate that the inequity in the system has not helped in terms of getting the physically challenged and the poor represented in our governments. It is therefore difficult to fix their interests in the scheme of things as politicians busy themselves with measures for self-perpetuation.
In the instant case, we call on the Benue State government to take this initiative further as there are many other Sunday Tartengers in the system that have lost hope. Tartenger’s determination to succeed has helped him to find help. It is a lesson for the youth and less privileged that if they persist, success is always around the corner. Corporate Nigeria did a lot to assist during efforts to combat the Coronavirus pandemic. They could do more in shaping and sharpening human capital in the country. Unless we are able to expand access to education, social ills are likely to multiply.
If we are to catch up with the developed world, or live up to the appellation “giant of Africa”, we must build a socially inclusive society. Official statistics indicate that there are about 25 million Nigerians living with a form of disability or the other. It is therefore best imagined if most of them are empowered to contribute to nation-building. Everyday, we have youths who have become bitter about their status in life. Many young Nigerians are taken up by universities in the United States and Canada with the sole criterion being their brilliance. Others through sports are granted scholarships. But, in their own country, one is unable to obtain anything unless he has access to the powers-that-be who have turned public resources to personal property. It took scholarships awarded in the US to freed Chibok girls, and to the United Kingdom for former Niger Delta militants, to discover that they could yet live useful lives.
The shining example of these young Nigerians from Benue is an indication that if the right things are done, the future could still be bright.