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Tag: posting

  • Corps members warned against rejecting posting

    The Lagos State NYSC Coordinator, Mr Mohammed Momoh, has warned the 2,570 CSorps members posted to Lagos to desist from inducing rejection from their places of primary assignment.

    In an interview with The Nation, Momoh said with over 90 per cent of NYSC placements based on request, Corps members in Lagos should have no problems finding places to work.  However, he said some were in the habit of forcing employers to reject them, which action he said was against the rules of the scheme.

    He said with over 90 per cent of NYSC placement based on request, Corps members in Lagos should have no problems finding places to work.  However, he said some were in the habit of forcing employers to reject them, which action he said was against the rules of the scheme.

    “We have employers in Lagos State cooperating with the scheme and supporting us in ensuring that corps members are not rejected.  We sensitised our corps members that it is a breach of law to induce rejection.  Some employers will give them accommodation and small stipend but some corps members will be looking for places they will earn N20,000 forgetting that it won’t come with accommodation, which is an issue in Lagos.

    In his speech at the closing ceremony of 2,570 Corps members mobilized for the Batch A Stream 1 of 2017, Momoh advised them to utilise credit opportunities introduced to them in camp to start businesses.

    He said they could become employers of labour by using the entrepreneurship skills learnt during their orientation camp programme to start businesses with soft loans from various government agencies and others.

    “Skills acquisition and entrepreneurship development programme was a major component of the orientation course.  It is aimed at making the corps members job creators rather than job seekers.  We will, therefore, encourage them to take advantage of the various platforms available for start-up capital put in place by the scheme in partnership with business credit granting institutions to set up their businesses.  Such institutions are the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund, Bank of Industry and Central Bank which grant business credit at zero or at low interest rates to corps members,” he said.

    Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, who was represented by the Commissioner for Special Duties, Mr Seye Oladejo, promised to expedite action on the construction of a new NYSC camp   for the state to replace the Iyana Ipaja camp, which has become too small.

    “My government will soon address the obvious challenge of inadequate facilities in the temporary camp with the construction of a befitting permanent orientation camp in order to cope with the ever increasing corps population deployed to Lagos State,” he said.

    Highpoint of the closing ceremony was the presentation of gifts to officials who distinguished themselves in carrying out their duties during the camp.

    The undisclosed monetary reward was presented by Oladejo to Mrs Iyabo Shittu, who was in charge of sanitation, and Lance Corporal Florence Balogun, who was posted to the camp clinic.

  • Biafra: Nuruddeen Lemu’s posting

    Yoruba language, being a phonemic language written in morphemic script, may not be philologically rich in vocabulary and grammar. Its adopted script may may have limited its ambition to spread beyond the shores of its native speakers. But this kwa ‘linguistic bud’ in the armpit of Congo-Bantu family of languages is exceptionally rich in proverbs and adages. It is quite capable of serving as the jewel of African languages if serious and dedicated efforts are made to enrich it through a redesigning of its script and thereby wean it from the ladle of a dead language like Latin.

    Readers may be at sea relating today’s article in this column with the context it carries. The immediate motivator of this article is the thought of an axiomatic Yoruba adage that goes thus: “If, in a games forest, trees fall severally upon one another, the clearing should start from the top”.

     

    Change of topic

    At the point of writing this article a patriotic Nigerian of Arewa origin sent a thought-provoking article into my box which I found sharable and decided to share with other numerous readers of this column. The article was written by Nurudden Lemu, a supposed prominent member of Arewa Youths who entitled it:  RE: 1ST October Igbo Evacuation: Just thinking Aloud

     

    Here it goes unedited: Attachments

    I honestly believe, or choose to believe that the call by some of my Northern/Arewa brothers and sisters for the evacuation of Igbos from the north by the 1st of October was probably only meant to demonstrate to the authorities that Hate Speech is game they can play too.

    I also think it was meant to help drive home the point that Igbos have major economic interests across the North which they should admit, appreciate and be grateful for, and stop behaving as if everyone else is their parasite. That we should each respect our mutual interdependence and dignity, and stop behaving as if we are a nation better off without each other.

    “I believe that the call for an actual evacuation was in no way meant to be taken literally and seriously. Or so I hope.

    However, it seems that some are taking the “game” a little too seriously and are even looking forward to business opportunities, job vacancies and promotions as a result of an Igbo-free Arewa.

    It is for this reason that I’d like to do ask some questions with the hope of getting us to think through and more deeply about the possible consequences of such an ultimatum, even if it was notmeant to be executed.

    What the longer term political and economic arrangements will finally look like is very important, but that is not my present concern in this piece.

    So, and just for the sake of argument and enquiry, I’d like you to please ponder over the following questions:

    ”How would a call for the evacuation of all our peaceful Igbos brothers (Christians and Muslims!) be carried out? Are they all hostile “pro-Biafrans”? Are they not still “innocent until PROVEN guilty”? Are there any plans for equitable compensation? By whom? Can the target of this operation be justified by any ethical or religious principles? Do fairness and justice matter to us?

    “Who will conduct the evacuation operations in the various towns and villages across Arewa and how? Would it be by the army, police or our ever-ready hooligans? Do hooligans know how to identify the difference between the various tribes of the South-South and South East? Or are they simply all “Igbos”?! Can you guess who would be more eager, and in fact not be ready to wait for the October date? Should we please not lift the October deadline while a more peaceful and less risky solution is worked out by our leadership?

    “Would any Igbos want to defend their property and life savings? What if they rightfully defend themselves and resist evacuation? Then what? What happens when one Arewa hooligan gets injured or killed? On whose hands is the blood of any of the innocent dead victims? How many victims should be expected? Who called for it?

    “How do you think the Nigerian Army and security services will respond to a “security situation”? Have we seen them in action before? Who will they target once they land? Will the Army target the GRA parts of town and those who started this, or will the victims once again be the poor and already wretched talakawa and almajiris? Haven’t these people not suffered enough in life already? Should we please not denounce the October “deathline” while a more peaceful and less risky solution is worked out by our leadership?

    “What’s the duration of this evacuation operation? A few hours, days, weeks, months or years? When, where and how will it end? Will there be any violent reprisals in other parts of the country? Who will prevent these?

    “Would an opportunist wait for October 1st, or will fake news and exaggerated rumours start a chain reaction earlier than that date? Who else is interested in anarchy in the North or in Nigeria as a whole? When will some fool or evil genius start that ball rolling? Should we please not denounce the October dead-line while a more peaceful and less risky solution is worked out?

    “Will any perpetrators be taken to court or prison? Will those who called for this be able to call it off once there is blood on the ground? (God forbid!) Will they even still be in the country?

    “How many more widows, orphans and IDPs nationwide? Who will support the new IDP camps? You?! The government? Have we really thought this through? Is this godliness, reason and conscience at work? Do we really want to go down this road?! Is it worth it from any positive angle? Should we please not denounce the October deadline while a more peaceful and less risky solution is worked out?

    “Have you been involved in sharing Hate Speech through any social media? Has the ball started rolling? Were you involved? Who should help stop it? What if we don’t? Who will it hit, or not hit? Who are the ultimate victims of this approach to “ending insults”, “better justice” and “the dignity of Arewa”? Do these ends justify these means? Should we please not condemn the October deathline?

    “Hmmm…. Are all these questions just silly pessimistic and impossible speculation? Is this a real, imminent and very possible scenario that has actually played out in this exact way in other societies? How did genocides and “ethnic cleansing” start elsewhere? Was it not also “like play, like play!?” – “June 12th 1993”?, Southern Sudan, South Africa, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Germany, Poland, the Balkans, Zimbabwe, Central African Republic, Northern Ireland, Everywhere!, etc., etc.!?

    “Are we somehow immune to the laws history and of social cause and effect? Have we really thought this issue through?

    “What is it that is said about wise people learning from other people’s mistakes? What kind of people will we be tagged as, if we make the same mistake twice? Can as many of us as possible (yes, you too!) rise above the ethnic-tribal sentiments that has been the bane of many political and economic instability of failed or failing countries.

    “What are our religious obligations regarding this – irrespective of your faiths? Or is it not a “religious” issue?! Should it be of interest or concern to faithful Muslims, Christians and anyone with a conscience?

    “Should we put this “little” fire out ASAP or should we wait a bit? For what, and for whom? What is the value of any religion, religious leader or religiousity if it can’t help prevent primitive tribal instincts from over-riding our virtues, beliefs and value systems of justice, compassion, wisdom, goodness and humanity? What is God-consciousness for if it can’t correct wrong with the “hand,… tongue,…or heart”?

    “Could calmer and more pragmatic minds like yourself (by God’s will!) go ahead and plan and prevail in your own neighbourhoods, organisations and institutions, etc.? Can you go ahead and reassure the Igbos you know?

    “If one person is being unreasonable, should that justify others behaving in a similar manner? It’s said, that it is easy to blow out a fire while it is still on the matchstick. But once it meets fuel…!!!

    “Should ALL OF US not please DENOUNCE and CONDEMN the October DEADline ASAP, while a more peaceful and less risky solution is worked out?

     

    My sincere prayer?

    May God guide how we answer these questions?

    May God grant us the wisdom to learn from the painful mistakes of others, and not repeat these ourselves.

    May God show us the truth for what it is, and give us the strength to follow it.

    May He also show us falsehood for what it is, and give us the strength to avoid it.

    Wassalamu ‘alaikum – and may PEACE be with you, and upon Nigeria. Ameen!”

  • Corps members and policy of posting

    Corps members and policy of posting

    With the new policy evolved by the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) in posting corps members in batches, majority of them have expressed their concern that the Stream One members who had already been through with their orientation exercises might take over positions meant for them, while some are not bothered. GRACE OBIKE reports

    In the past few years, the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) has enunciated some policies that aimed at posting corps members to different parts of the country in three different batches to serve their father land during the mandatory one year national service. However, there was a twist in the policy this year during the just-concluded general elections.

    Instead of going ahead with the Batches A, B and C policy, only a Batch A has been posted so far which was divided into streams I and II.  Those in stream one have concluded their orientation exercise and have been posted to their places of primary assignment while those who comprise stream two are currently in camp.

    That there are two streams of corps members indicates that there are more corps members whose posting to their places of primary assignments will depend on who comes first.

    Some of those who constitute the stream II are worried that those who make up stream one might take over positions meant for them.

    As for the stream II corps members posted to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) who are currently in camp, most of them claimed not to be worried about where they might eventually be posted to, while some even have the dream of being posted to the Villa, National Assembly, banks, oil companies and the civil service.

    Some who are still in the orientation camps are still worried about where they might be posted to for their primary assignments.

    One of the corps members from Ekiti State, Oluwaseun Babajide said: “I’m honestly not bothered about where I am posted. I will be satisfied with anywhere that God decides for me because I believe that wherever God chooses, I will have a way of going there and succeeding. Even though the stream one have gone ahead of us to secure most of the positions, I am not bothered because I know that it is going to be easy for me. I believe that everywhere is going to be perfect for me. But I would like to be posted to a place that will change my personality; such as the Immigration, United States (US) Embassy and other places. I still hope in God and have faith that everything is going to work out fine for me.”

    Another corps member, Ndidi Okoye from Enugu State said she sees herself as lucky because so many of her mates in school worked so hard and even went as far as paying money to people to influence their posting to Abuja, but she had not done such because she had depended solely on God. She added that when all her friends saw that she had been posted to Abuja, they didn’t believe that it was God’s doing.

    Okoye ardently believes that God sent her to Abuja for a reason and she will find her breakthrough after her orientation.

    She said: “As far as I am concerned, I have refused to be preoccupied by the thought of where I will be posted because since God was the one that sent me to Abuja without my contribution, I believe that He has great plans for me and will ensure that I received my own breakthrough in Abuja.

    “A lot of my school mates paid money to be posted to Abuja but a lot of them were disappointed at the end of the day. I simply asked God to take control and He did. Even if stream I corps members secured all the positions in Abuja, I will still leave the orientation camp for a good ministry.”

    Abigail Hassan from Kaduna State on the other hand has a different mindset to the issue. She loves to teach and believes that she has a lot to give to the country. She is of the belief that she will be more useful when posted to the area councils where she can impart her knowledge and wealth of experience to the younger ones.

    “The truth is that I love to teach and I believe that I will find myself more useful, imparting my wealth of experience to the younger generation. So, I would actually love to be posted to a school. I don’t mind if it is in the village or inside the city of Abuja; as long as I am able to serve my country,” she said.

    For the swearing-in ceremony, Permanent Secretary of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Mr. John Chukwu who represented President Muhammadu Buhari at the occasion informed that no corps member that becomes incapacitated or disabled in the course of his or her service to mother land will be abandoned by the Federal Government.

    He said: “ýI commend the management of the scheme for its initiative on the NYSC Hope Alive Programme (NYSC-HAP). This initiative, which is aimed at giving succour and hope to corps members who become disabled or incapacitated during the service year, is indeed laudable.

    “I therefore use this opportunity to state that no Nigerian who suffers any form of incapacitation while in serviceý to this great country will be abandoned.

    “Our goal is to comprehensively address youth empowerment, insecurity and other social vices prevalent among our youths.

    “With collective will and the determination of your vibrant generation, I am confident that we shall, in time, redirect and steer the course of our country on the path of sustainable progress and development.

    “The true change that we desire must start with every one of us, especially you, the Nigerian youths. We must all embrace attitudinal change. We must exercise self and personal discipline and the courage to always do the right thing. Corps members must fully join hands with all Nigerians to fight the scourge of corruption and insecurity in the country and I will also want to commend the NYSC for its part in the just-concluded general elections where your members served the nation truthfully. I welcome you all; you are the first corps members to be sworn in by my administration.”

  • Re: National Youth Service Corps posting

    SIR: Permit me to commend Professor Jide Osuntokun, an intellectual and erudite scholar per excellence over his wonderful article in his weekly publication (comment) on page 19 of Thursday July 31. If common sense is indeed common, the Directorate of NYSC does not need to be told not to post corps members to the volatile regions in the North-east. The wanton killings on daily basis in this region clearly show to us that all is not well.

    The Directorate of the NYSC published an advertorial in The Nation newspaper on July 11, warning corps members against the presentation of fake medical reports for redeployment. But why should they post them to these volatile regions in the first place? This to me portends a very great insensitivity, lack of respect for the dignity of human being, and the rot in the NYSC scheme. I guess something is wrong with the NYSC officials and the Directorate.

    Many vibrant Nigerians youth are still suffering from life threatening disabilities due to their posting to the Northern part of the country. In my own case I was posted to Sokoto State after graduating from the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State in year 2011. I had close shave with death when our vehicle was robbed in Kebbi State by some heavily armed Fulani herdsmen. This resulted into a ghastly accident in which I had multiple fractures and a damaged hip which needs an urgent replacement.

    It’s sad to tell Nigerians that after two years, I have been completely neglected. In fact, no staff of NYSC was ever sent to check on me throughout my six months stay in the hospital. It took the intervention of President Goodluck Jonathan before my medical expenses was refunded a year after. I still bear the brunt and horror of the unpleasant incident for obeying the NYSC ‘clarion call’. As it is today, I may never be able to walk again except I get further medical attention for a hip replacement. I do pray that my request for further medical treatment to make me walk again will be revisited and granted by the president.

    The case of the missing female corps member a few years ago in Ekiti State is still fresh in our memory. Nothing was done as regard the missing lady and as usual the family was neglected. This finally led to the untimely death of the father after he developed stroke.

    The scheme must be repositioned for better service delivery so that the labour of our heroes past will not be in vain. There is indeed no better time to reposition the NYSC from its present moribund, mechanistic and corrupt state, than now.

     

    • Babaeko Oluwaloseyi.

    Kabba -Kogi State.

     

  • National Youth Service Corps posting

    On Friday July 11, the directorate of the NYSC took a page in The Nation to warn the public about fake medical reports by corps members seeking concessional deployment and relocation. This advertisement is definitely in order but I take an objection to a part of it, warning parents and guidance to accept wherever their children are posted to in the national interest and in the spirit of the decree setting up the NYSC after the Nigerian Civil War.

    Most parents and potential corps members know about the spirit of promoting national unity which inspired General Yakubu Gowon’s regime to set up the National Youth Service Corps. Nobody can dispute the need and the necessity for national unity but unity is for the living and not the dead. The memory of the 15 youth corps members who were killed in Bauchi and six earlier ones who were killed in Jos should still be fresh in our minds and if not fresh in our minds but certainly in the minds of the parents of the dead.

    Another period of posting is on us and this should be the time to engage in a rational discussion on posting of youth corps members. The idea is that corps members should not serve in their own states or states where they were born. Sometimes this has been stretched to include corps member’ cultural areas or zones. Whatever the criteria are, the most fundamental and guiding principle is not to put our children in harm’s way.

    I currently teach in a private university and I know how much parents spend to educate and maintain their children and I also know how much effort teachers in this private university invest in teaching their students which is not like what goes on in public schools where students and staff maintain adversarial relationships which is neither conducive to teaching, impartation of knowledge and learning. This is to say as a citizen, a father and a grandfather, I have vested interest in the survival of young people generally because a country without young people has no future. I also have vested interest in the survival of my current students because of the in loco parentis relations which have existed between me and them over the years.

    I am for national unity and I believe all reasonable Nigerians are for the same. I am also a realist and it is a fact that some parts of our country are unfortunately distressed and consequently unsafe for all citizens including youth corps members. We all know that Boko Haram has declared war on Nigeria and is killing in the process, just anybody it can find without provocation irrespective of religion, region and tribe. All those who can escape from them have relocated to safer parts of the country and those who cannot escape have taken to self-help of arming themselves.

    Surely we do not expect parents to buy guns for their children who are going on National Youth Service. The point I am laboriously making is that no country has the right to send the children of citizens in the name of National Youth Service to places where the probability of being killed is very high. If we all agree to this argument and we all also desire that the youth service should continue, then as rational human beings we should for the time being stop posting people to states where the security of the corps members cannot be guaranteed.

    These states unfortunately would include all the states in the north-east of our dear country including Borno, Yobe, Bauchi, Adamawa, Gombe and Taraba. For the time being also, no corps member should be posted to Benue and Plateau states which are currently facing the onslaught of so-called herdsmen or possibly Boko Haram disguised as Fulani herdsmen. There have of course been terrorist incidents in places like Kano, Sokoto, Katsina and Kaduna but these are few and far between so while holding our breath as parents, we can accept posting to these areas. I would have added to this list of unsafe places, Rivers and Bayelsa but thank God the incidence of kidnapping in the two states seems to have abated.

    What is left of Nigeria where youth corps members can be deployed is still sufficiently large and culturally diversified that the purpose of youth service can continue to be maintained. But for goodness sake, do not let anybody be posted to the states that are unsafe and be told to first report there before asking for relocation. No parent should be made to go through that ordeal. My advice to any such parent would be to sue the federal government and ask for huge cost. Our constitution makes the right to life and liberty our fundamental right. It is about time that these fundamental human rights are made actionable in the courts of law and somebody should blaze the trail and get judgement in this regard. As citizens, most Nigerians do not ask for much from their government.

    Nowadays unlike in my own time, right from kindergarten, primary schools, secondary schools and universities, some parents pay through their noses to educate their children. Even children who go through public schools including public universities are also educated at high and expensive costs to their parents. We are told Nigeria is a rich country but can we in all honesty say that the average individual benefits from this common wealth where wealth is not common? One of the fundamental functions of government is personal and collective security; our government that has failed in this regard has no right to call on parents and guardians to volunteer their graduate children for slaughter in the name of national unity.

    When peace would have returned to this country which we all pray for, then I will be ready to send my grandchildren to Maiduguri and Jos voluntarily without being forced to do so for the sake of national unity. After all I, as a young person went to Jos and Maiduguri to perform Yeoman assignment in helping to build the universities in the two towns. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed my stay there. But that was another time and age when things were normal in our country. If this appeal fails, then the staff of the NYSC secretariat must show leadership by first sending their own children into harm’s way.

    It is no use for the secretariat staff sitting in their air conditioned offices in Abuja, drinking tea and eating cakes while sending the children of the poor people to Maiduguri and asking them to report first before seeking redeployment. This is patently unfair and it is this unfairness and injustice which are eroding peoples’ love for their country.