After the Nigerian Civil War between 1967 to 1970, the Federal Government sought to mend the fences once again by establishing the compulsory one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) for universities and polytechnic graduates.
Corps members were to be deployed interchangeably across regions and states. This was aimed at providing a platform to better understand the country’s cultural diversity and catalogue of other differences among Nigerians as well as foster unity.
The scheme over the years has become a platform offering many benefits to corps members. These benefits include building long term relationships, job opportunities, skill acquisition and even marriages.
However, many prospective corp members, out of ignorance, miss out from this one lifetime experience in the name of redeployment or service in absentia.
At the end of the NYSC three-week orientation camp, one thing that dominates the exercise is applications for relocation
The NYSC has provided the options for relocation after the completion of the three weeks orientation camp from one state of service to another on the grounds of health, marriage and security.
Many corp members would seek to outsmart this relocation window intentionally citing health reasons for relocation. Last Thursday, during the ongoing orientation camp, the Director General of the Gombe State NYSC echoed that: “There is no need to invite sickness you do not have upon yourself for the sake of relocation.”
It doesn’t take careful observation to note that the majority of the applicants are typical northerners, aka Hausa-Fulani.
This leads to an intriguing conclusion; Hausa-Fulani are home loving-people, they do not want to explore other regions apart from their familiar environment despite the enormous possibilities attached with that.
These home-loving youths would come home after redeployment only to continue from where they stopped; the circle of their personal routine activities but little do they realize that the bet wasn’t worth it.
In education, many secondary schools, especially government schools, have improved their teaching capacity with the posting of these agile youth corps members, who are often bubbling with fresh ideas, from different backgrounds. Many students often get inspired for future careers from these corp members. I am a witness and I have come across a lot of friends who testified to that.
Redeployment to home is not recommended. So also, is service in absentia. This does not only deprive the host community the service of the youth corps member, but denies the corps member the opportunity to have known a new place and tapped from the opportunities that such a community would have offered them.
Later in their lives, whenever there would be a discussion on the NYSC experience or not , those who served in absentia and those who replayed themselves will have little to remember and rejoice over. Many of them would even regret being deployed.
Service in the rural areas is the bomb. That is where NYSC youth corps members are treated with glamour unlike in urban areas. Perhaps, the lack of recognition of NYSC in the urban areas is because of the high number of youths serving there.
Many youths who detest being posted to the rural areas and sought redeployment back into town often realize that they cheated themselves out of a great experience when they meet with friends who served in the rural areas.
Dear corps members-currently in the camp or those who are coming later, please avoid regret later in your life and rethink the idea of seeking redeployment or service in absentia after camp.
Abdulmumin is a PhD candidate, Chemical Engineering Department, ABU Zaria
