NYSC and her insane administrators

[blissfully]

The whole world knows that there is a war going on in Northern Nigeria. There are newspaper reports of people, natives and non-natives fleeing in droves. Hundreds have died in recent months and the carnage is not likely to stop soon.

During some of these crises youth corpers have been killed without any arrest of the killers or their trial

One would have expected the so-called NYSC administrators to bear this in mind in posting youth corpers. But alas they are deaf and dumb and continue to post southern corpers to the North. And do they care if these graduates lose their lives. They dont because their own children are in safe countries such as London, America and Dubai.

Can the parents of these graduates rise in unison to protest against these senseless activities of the Directors of NYSC

[papadonkee]

I'd change the NYSC model sef. It's a waste of time. I like how the Greeks make their youths serve in the military for real, instead of wearing imitation combat gear and marching in rural camps like village police constables.

And scrap sending them to the cities to pursue lucrative careers as semi-literate prostitutes and gogolos. Send them instead to farms for one year for fcuks sake.

I'm sure their creative, nurturing skills used to make things grow will work on real farms as well as they currently do on those limp, urban carrots and cucumbers of the local and foreign variety.

2015!!!

NYSC - Feeding the Nation.

[denker]

mamadonkey, now ya make sense...indeed

[blissfully]

I'd change the NYSC model sef. It's a waste of time. I like how the Greeks make their youths serve in the military for real, instead of wearing imitation combat gear and marching in rural camps like village police constables.

And scrap sending them to the cities to pursue lucrative careers as semi-literate prostitutes and gogolos. Send them instead to farms for one year for fcuks sake.

I'm sure their creative, nurturing skills used to make things grow will work on real farms as well as they currently do on those limp, urban carrots and cucumbers of the local and foreign variety.

2015!!!

NYSC - Feeding the Nation.

Your ideas are well noted. It is really unfortunate that we are playing checkers with the lives of these children for nothing.
Calls have been made for the scrapping of this useless and meaningless thing they call NYSC but those who are making billions from the scheme in an illegal way have been fighting to retain it while exposing the children of innocent Nigerians to avoidable risk.

I cant wait for the day that my people will learn from the Arab Spring and the Occupy movement to march against this injustice and wastage.

[blissfully]

Even Northerners are pleading that their children should not be posted to the North. So it is the Southerners that should be offering the blood of their children for the sake of some elusive national integration?

[blissfully]

Borno, others
Outrage as NYSC posts graduates to Borno, others
July 2, 2012 by Olabisi Deji-Folutile and John Alechenu 258 Comments
National Youth Service Corps members

National Youth Service Corps members
| credits:

Corps members posted to Yobe, Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto, Bornu and Bauchi states have asked the National Youth Service Corps to redeploy them from these trouble states.

The corps members, who expressed sadness as they received their call-up letters for the Batch B NYSC service year, said they were confused as they did not know what to do due to the spate of bombings and other forms of insecurity in these states.

Some of the corps members and their families, who expressed their worries on various social network sites including Facebook and Twitter, said they were extremely sad and disappointed when they received their call-up letters, deploying them to trouble states where there is currently curfew, threats of reprisals and censeless bombings.

Some of the comments on the social network sites read, "We need to arise and stop the government from sentencing us and our loved ones to death. Is our government/NYSC this heartless or simply inhumane? We seek our immediate redeployment, we want to live in places where we can work with peace of mind.''

Our correspondents learnt that authorities of the NYSC had also been under pressure from parents and prospective corps members posted to northern states, who had been seeking alternative posting.

Our Correspondent learnt in Abuja on Sunday that the NYSC was already collaborating with the affected states on how to ensure security for the corps members posted to their states.

But speaking through the Borno State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Inuwa Bwala, in a telephone interview with our correspondent in Abuja on Sunday, the Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, made a case for corps members to be posted to the state.

He argued that the security situation in the state was being exaggerated by detractors to further isolate the state from the rest of the country.

He said, "While it is true that we have security challenges, it is a fact that these challenges are not exclusive to Borno State.

"We don't have on record any attack on visitors neither do we have any record of attacks on the NYSC camp or corps members posted to and currently serving in Borno State.


http://www.punchng.com/news/outrage-...-borno-others/

[blissfully]

Thank God that Nigerians are waking up from their slumber. Is it by force to serve under NYSC and what is wrong with people serving in their own geo-political zone. Let northerners serve in the north and southerners serve in the south for now.


But that is not acceptable to the thieves in nysc who are stealing billions and exposing the lives of these children to danger.

I even heard that NYSC pays only 1000 Naira (about 6 dollars) as transport allowance to each corper. So if you are posted from Oyo to Maiduguri you will be paid only 1000 Naira. One way trip to Maiduguri is over 50,000Naira and by road it is about N10,000, So the corpers are expected to provide for their own transportation or subsidise government.

meanwhile the administrators seat down in their air-conditioned offices to award contracts worth billions of Naira to themselves . Nigeriaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[blissfully]

NYSC orders new corps members to report to troubled northern states
July 3, 2012 by John Alechenu with agency reports 137 Comments
National Youth Service Corps members

National Youth Service Corps members
| credits:

THE National Youth Service Corps on Monday asked potential corps members to report at their orientation camps location where the fundamentalist Islamic sect, Boko Haram is waging an insurgency against the Federal Government. The States are Yobe, Kaduna, Kano, Borno, Gombe and Bauchi.

A statement signed by the Director (Corps Mobilisation), Mrs Mary Kolajo, and pasted at the NYSC Headquarters in Abuja, urged whosoever wanted a re-posting to do so while in camp.

The statement adds that the cases will expeditiously be treated by state coordinators.

The NYSC directive came as anxious corps members posted to the volatile states besieged its national headquarters on Monday.

Dozens of the affected corps members were seen trying to gain entry into the complex which was being guarded by armed soldiers.

The corps members conducted themselves peacefully but were unable to get officials to address their concerns as of the time the News Agency of Nigeria got there.

A graduate of the University of Ibadan who gave his name as Dr. Isiaah, said his posting to Yobe State was unacceptable.

According to him, none of his colleagues was averse to serving Nigeria as a corps member but that they were not in a hurry to die "a senseless, needless and avoidable death."

He said," I graduated from U.I. I studied Medicine. I, and most of my colleagues you see here today, am here to seek alternative posting to other states because of the security situation in the north.

"Our families made sacrifices to get us where we are today. I, for one, cannot go to Yobe State if the President who is the Commander- In-Chief of the Armed Forces does not feel safe to go there; who am I, an ordinary citizen, to go there?

"The President told the whole nation during the Presidential Media Chat last week that he could not use a helicopter to go to Borno or Yobe states because of security concerns, why do they want to send us there?"

He also argued that since the extremist Islamic sect, Boko Haram, which is active in these areas don't want anything to do with western education "why should Nigeria waste the lives of those who spent the greater part of their lives to acquire it."

"Those who get posted to schools will become potential targets because they say they don't want schools, why should we be made the sacrificial lambs? he asked.

Another prospective corps member, Mr. Chiedu Okoye, a graduate of Agric-Economics from the University of Maiduguri, said although he was born and bred in the north, he had had too many close shaves with death to accept his posting to Jos (Plateau State).

He said, "I have spent a greater part of my life in the north but I cannot serve anywhere in the north. Just this January I escaped from Maiduguri with a gunshot wound.

"It was God that saved me from the Jos crisis in 2001 when I was passing through on my way back from the East. Must I die prematurely before somebody takes me seriously?"

Albert Francis who also graduated from University of Ibadan and was posted to Sokoto State said, "I know that Sokoto is free from the crisis but you can not predict what will happen later."

Speaking with NAN, Femi Adegbite, a fresh gradutated posted to Maiduguri said, "Last year, many youth corps members were killed in these troubled states including Borno and nothing happened. How do you expect me to go to Maiduguri?"

In an interview with our correspondent, the Director of Public Relations of the NYSC, Mrs. Bose Aderibigbe, said the commission was mindful of the corps members concerns but that proper procedures would have to be followed for those who wished to be redeployed.

She said, "Staying at the secretariat gate will not solve this problem. The 2012 batch "B" corps members who have collected their call-up letters from their institutions should immediately proceed to their respective orientation camps for registration and camping.

"Whoever is interested in seeking relocation from the present state of deployment should make a request for relocation while on camp.

"We assure them that all requests will be expeditiously treated by the state coordinators."

Data obtained by The PUNCH revealed that 1,050 corps members were posted to Borno State, the same number were posted to Yobe State.

Gombe, Kano and Kaduna states had 2,500 each; Bauchi had 1,500, while 2,300 were posted to Plateau State.

Meanwhile, the Gombe State Coordinator of the NYSC, Mr Manesah Igyuse, said on Monday in Mallamsidi, headquarters of the Kwami Local Government area that the state government was doing everything possible to ensure that those posted to the state for orientation were protected.

"Troops have been moved into the camp with their armoured tank and are combat ready, so nobody will even attempt to come and attack it. More soldiers and policemen have also been drafted to boost security in the camp,'' he was quoted as saying by NAN.

NAN reports that the Batch `B' corps members started arriving in the camp for orientation on Monday.

Igyuse assured them of adequate security, saying that as far as the state was concerned, they had no problem with their safety




http://www.punchng.com/news/nysc-ord...rthern-states/

[blissfully]

Do you still have any doubts about the fact that the NYSC is run by insane people then read the Order from NYSC written by one Mrs Mary Kolajo. That woman should be living in Afghanistan.

And why should the NYSC be headed by a serving soldier under a democractic dispensation.

This matter makes me wonder.

[denker]

Attackers slit seven construction workers' throats in Maiduguri
July 2, 2012 by Agency Reporter
Security agents on Monday discovered the bodies of nine construction workers, with their throats slit, in Maiduguri, the troubled capital of Borno State.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack and the army did not say who was to blame, Reuters reports.
Soldiers found the nine bodies in a construction workers' compound in the city's Bolori area at around 7 a.m, spokesman of the Joint Task Force on Operation Restore Order, Col. Sagir Musa, said.
A nurse at a local hospital told Reuters 10 bodies were brought in on Monday morning.
There has also been an increase in killings by armed criminal gangs, taking advantage of the unrest in Northern Nigeria to settle scores.
http://www.punchng.com/news/attacker...-in-maiduguri/

..anywaz, igbo corpers have been warned not to accept going to the troubled north...but we are not going to force anybody to heed the warnings/instructions...indeed.

[SILOJE]

A friend's sister who finished from UNIBEN and who has sickle cell anemia has just been posted to Borno.
The best they are doing for them security-wise is to have their orientation programme in Adamawa, another hotspot.
I have told her it is not compulsory to go for service. I will not expose any of my relatives to that kind of risk, so I will not encourage her to put her life on the line.

[valteena]

Sad really that NYSC, something that graduates use to look forward to in the most has turn into a scary prospect today.

You would have thought that even if they insist that corpers go to these hot spots for service, special provisions to guarantee their safety would have been made and not the business as usual posting they've done. Those posted to these hotspots in the North should simply refuse to go period.

[blissfully]

A friend's sister who finished from UNIBEN and who has sickle cell anemia has just been posted to Borno.
The best they are doing for them security-wise is to have their orientation programme in Adamawa, another hotspot.
I have told her it is not compulsory to go for service. I will not expose any of my relatives to that kind of risk, so I will not encourage her to put her life on the line.

Good advise. I wonder if the graduates know that they have several choices in this nysc issue. Nigerians are docile and this explains why we can have such an Order from the nysc gang led by Mrs Kolajo

[blissfully]

Sad really that NYSC, something that graduates use to look forward to in the most has turn into a scary prospect today.

You would have thought that even if they insist that corpers go to these hot spots for service, special provisions to guarantee their safety would have been made and not the business as usual posting they've done. Those posted to these hotspots in the North should simply refuse to go period.

Guarantee what? Can they , the nysc people guarantee their own safety. No one put this in better perspective than Mr. President who told the whole world in that famous media chat that is not safe for him to travel to Bornu by air.

[Enyi]

After Yerima and CO LTD introduced Sharia, I had advocated that corpers should be given the option to choose their place of service. Since then, BH has raised the stakes. If Mr. President cannot visit some states, why should others be forced to serve in such states. It is stupid and dumb for NYSC official to give a false sense of security. BTW, where were these officials when corpers were murdered during the post-election violence? Let's assume that the soldiers can protect the corpers in the camps. Are these corpers expected to stay 24 hours in the camp and for the entire service period? What happens when they venture outside the camp? The argument that they should first report before asking for reposting is arrant nonsense. Labor, NANS and other organizations should show solidarity with the corpers.

[Ph3y]

The truth is that many states use these youth corpers as cheap labour in the education and health sectors. New found jobs for them include electoral and officials. That is the major reason why govt has refused to scrap or even overhaul the programme. Maybe NANS needs to take the Government to court on this issue. They can't continue to put their lives of our future leaders on the line.

[blissfully]

NYSC defies calls to cancel postings to troubled North

postings to troubled North
NYSC defies calls to cancel postings to troubled North


http://www.punchng.com/news/nysc-def...roubled-north/


July 4, 2012 by John Ameh and John Alechenu 56 Comments
National Youth Service Corps members

National Youth Service Corps members
| credits:

The House of Representatives on Tuesday asked the National Youth Service Corps to cancel the posting of corps members sent to the states that have security challenges.

The House further requested the NYSC to redeploy the affected corps members in relatively safe places until the security challenges in the affected states are resolved.

The new corps members and their parents had protested the posting to some northern states where there had been reported cases of bombing and other violent acts. The states include Yobe, Borno, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Bauchi and Plateau.

But the NYSC had insisted that the corps members would not be reposted except they first reported at their original states of posting.

In a statement by the NYSC Director of Public Relations, Mrs. Abosede Aderibigbe, on Tuesday, the directorate said it had empowered state coordinators to attend to requests for redeployment, adding that the NYSC guidelines said that corps members could only be redeployed on marital or health grounds.

The statement reads, "This is to inform all 2012 Batch 'B' corps members and the general public that state governments and the NYSC operators have put in place measures to guarantee the security to lives and property of corps members deployed to camps for the ongoing orientation course.

"Prospective corps members should therefore proceed to their respective camps for induction into the noble scheme.

"However, those who have genuine reasons to seek for relocation out of their states of posting, should register first in their states of deployment and then submit application there for consideration.

"The two grounds for consideration remain marital (for those who are married) and health (for those with extreme medical ailments)

"Please note that no request for change of posting to deployed states will be attended to at the Directorate Headquarters, Abuja, as state coordinators have been empowered to attend to Relocation Requests in their states."

Adopting a motion by Peter Edeh (ANPP-Ebonyi), the House said NYSC should continue to desist from posting corps members to the troubled states.

Leading debate on the merits of the motion, Edeh said that the recent posting of '' Batch B'' NYSC members to certain areas of the country had caused a lot of concern to the public.

He said the posting had elicited outcry from the affected corps members, as well as Nigerians due to the security challenges in those states and that some corps members lost their lives as a result of insecurity in their places of primary assignment in the past.

"Let us do what is practical, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) says security and welfare should be the primary concern of government.

"They (corps members) should not be posted to where they are not safe,'' he said.

Bitrus Kaze (PDP-Plateau) in his contribution in support of the motion said the motion was in good faith as the issue concerned human lives.

Fort Dike (PDP-Anambra) on his part agreed with the mover of the motion that it would be unfair to post corps members to where their safety might not be guaranteed.

"It is unfair to post people to places where indigenes are running away from,'' Dike warned.

Femi Gbajabiamila (ACN-Lagos) said the motion was timely as it concerned the welfare of people, and urged his colleagues to support it.

The motion was not opposed hence it was subsequently adopted by the House.

Meanwhile, a number of prospective corps members were seen loitering around the NYSC Headquarters on Tuesday, desperate for a change of heart by the Director-General, Brig. Gen. Nnamdi Okore-Affia, on their postings.

One of the corps members who gave her name simply as Rashidat from Osun State said she was ready to lose another year if her posting to Bauchi State was not reversed.

She said, "I am a Muslim but those who kill in the name of Islam don't care, bombs do not pick and choose who is a Christian or a Muslim and since these people don't want western education we are potential targets because if you are posted to a school you are not safe.

[blissfully]

i found this comment on-line, though not verified in any way. However, it may just be very true

"
ajadimo July 4, 2012 at 8:13 am

@Bin Laden, Aderibigbe posted her own son to Ibadan, Oyo state; not only that she made sure the boy didt serve in either a remote town, school as ateacher but, in a highly paid telecom organization- ZAIN IN 2010. Please, help us ask her how her son served in the same zone he is from?"

[valteena]

Reps to NYSC: Cancel postings of corps members to North-East..

ABUJA — THE House of Representatives, yesterday, directed the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, to cancel all postings of corps members to states in the North East which are faced with security challenges.

This was sequel to the controversy that emanated from the posting of Batch B corps members, last Monday which resulted in a protest by the corpers at the headquarters of the NYSC in Abuja. The affected corps members insisted that the authorities should redeploy them to safer areas in the country.

In its resolution on a motion moved by a member, Mr Peter Edeh, under matters of urgent public importance, the House also directed the NYSC to maintain the same such stance until the security threats in the affected states had been satisfactorily addressed.

The House, however, asked corps members who opted to serve in the troubled states, to be allowed to do so.

Edeh, while moving the motion, had expressed concerns that it was on record that several corps members had lost their lives in these crisis-prone states in the past, adding that it would be unreasonable, therefore, to post members to the troubled states.

He further explained that the call for the cancellation of all corps members' postings to the troubled states was further necessitated by the fact that corps members were ill-equipped and ill-trained to defend themselves in the face of unprovoked attack.

His contributions were supported by Minority Leader of the House, Femi Gabjabiamila, who argued that the notion that corps members must serve outside their states of origin was wrong, as according to him, framers of the NYSC Act did not envisage such threats to lives of innocent Nigerian youths.

He said where there was obvious security threat, there was nothing wrong to temporarily leave out crisis-prone areas in the posting of corps members.

However, Ahmed Kaita and Kyari Gujbawu who opposed the motion argued that it was not in tandem with the philosophy of the NYSC scheme.

According to Kaita, the action would defeat the purpose of the scheme but Gujbawu cautioned that if complied with, it would set a dangerous precedence, adding that the security agencies should rather be urged to step-up their operations to guarantee the security of the corps members when posted. When the question was put to vote by Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha who presided over the session, members unanimously voted in favour of the motion.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/07/r...to-north-east/

Rep members have intervened and acted rightly. For once, they're are earning their keep.

[blissfully]

Two (2) other on-line reactions




Mad woman Aderibigbe
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on July 3, 2012 - 23:10.

Madam Aderibigbe u are a mad woman why not send your children and relative to the North where security people can not even guarante their own security. Let your DG send his son to Yobe to serve, useless people.

reply





Mrs Abosede Olubunmi Aderigbibe
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on July 3, 2012 - 23:09.

Mrs Aderigbibe's son served with me in Ibadan in 2008 batch A when she was the state coordinator. She made sure her son was given a "juicy" PPA to serve in the then Zain now Airtel while posting other peoples' children to remote villages outside Ibadan. She also had (and probably still does) a history of talking down on corp members while a the same time posing as their "mummy".

[blissfully]

Assembly rejects North for Lagos NYSC members

July 4, 2012 by Sesan Olufowobi 114 Comments

The Lagos State House of Assembly on Tuesday rejected the posting of graduates from the state to the northern part of the country for their compulsory one-year national service.

The Chairman, Committee on Education, Science and Technology, Mr. Wahab Alawiye-King, made this known while receiving National Youth Service Corps members from the Lagos State University, who staged a demonstration to the Assembly on Tuesday.

The lawmaker said, "The House at its plenary yesterday (Monday) passed a resolution to the Director-General of the NYSC, urging him not to post students from Lagos State to unsafe northern states, where security of lives and properties cannot be guaranteed."

He said the state was determined to protect people of the state, especially its youths, from danger.

He added that the government would resist any attempt by the NYSC to post any student from the state to troubled states for the service year.

The students had besieged the Assembly with placards with inscriptions such as 'LASU says no to posting to the North, and 'No service in Boko Haram States', among others.

Spokesperson for the students, who is also the Chairman, Senior Staff Association of the university, Mrs. Sessi Funmi, lamented the rate of killings and bombings in the northern part of the country, describing it as unbearable.

She said, "Our lawmakers should help to stop our graduates from being posted to these volatile states. The security of our youths cannot be guaranteed."

In a related development, the Assembly has summoned the contractor handling the construction of Ariyo-Ira-Muwo-Tedi-Abule Oshun Bridge in Ojo Local Government Area over its failure to complete the project on schedule.

[blissfully]

Boko Haram:NYSC stops posting of 14,850 graduates to North


July 5, 2012 by John Alechenu, Abuja 84 Comments
Batch 'B' corps members in a tug of war during their swearing-in, in Abuja... on Wednesday

At last, the National Youth Service Corps has bowed to pressure and rescinded the decision to post 14,850 corps members to troubled northern states.

It has directed the affected corps members to report at the NYSC headquarters for redeployment to states considered safe.

A statement by the Director-General of the NYSC, Brig.-General Nnamdi Okore-Affia, in Abuja on Wednesday, directed corps members posted to Bauchi, Gombe, Plateau, Kano and Kaduna states to immediately report to the NYSC headquarters for redeployment.

This came barely 24 hours after an earlier insistence by the NYSC that corps members posted to the affected areas must first report to camp before requests for redeployment could be considered.

Okore-Affia has also directed all those deployed in Yobe and Borno states to report to new orientation camps in Nasarawa and Benue states respectively.

The statement reads, "This is to inform all prospective corps members deployed to Yobe and Borno states for the 2012 Batch 'B' Orientation Course to note the following:

"Yobe State prospective corps members will now hold their orientation course at the Nasarawa State NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp, Keffi, Keffi LGA, and not as stated on their call-up letters.

"Borno State prospective corps members will undertake their orientation programme at the Benue State NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp at Wanume, Tarka LGA, and not as stated on their call-up letters.

"Date: Thursday 26th July-Thursday 16th August, 2012, as earlier published.

"In addition, all 2012 Batch 'B' prospective corps members deployed to Bauchi, Gombe, Plateau, Kano and Kaduna states who have collected their call-up letters but are yet to report in camp should immediately report at the NYSC Directorate Headquarters, Abuja for redeployment."

The statement is silent on the fate of those who have already reported in camp in compliance with the earlier directive.

However, a senior official of the corps confided in our correspondent that those who had complied would not be discriminated against.

"Requests by those who responded to the earlier directive to report will be given expeditious consideration because we must not send the wrong signals to those who are law-abiding," the official who asked not to be named said.

A female youth corps member who reported in the Plateau State camp confirmed to our correspondent on the telephone that they were given re-deployment request forms yesterday.

Fourteen thousand corps members were posted to troubled northern states.

Data obtained by The Punch revealed that 1,050 corps members were posted to Borno State, the same number was posted to Yobe State while Gombe, Kano, and Kaduna states had 2,500 corps members each. Bauchi had 1,500 while 2,300 corps members were posted to Plateau State


http://www.punchng.com/news/boko-har...ates-to-north/

[blissfully]

One of the several on-line comments


" buksy July 5, 2012 at 9:12 am

The battle is not over yet. I agree with others who say that the NYSC administrators are either dumb, stupid or insane.

Between Gombe and Bauchi states are other states such as Katsina. A corp member posted up north will have to travel by road through Jos, Bauchi , Gombe to Katsina. The alternative route from the south is FCT, Kaduna and then Katsina.

Do these people think at all . If you cancel postings to Kaduna, Gombe Yobe and Kano. What about the northern routes to these states and the adjoining states.

They are not just thinking. And it is a pity we have such morons in sensitive areas in the Nigerian government"

[valteena]

NYSC reschedules camp activities in volatile states

ABUJA — National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, yesterday announced the rescheduling of the posting of all prospective corps members deployed to Yobe and Borno States for the 2012 Batch 'B' Orientation Course.

In a statement by Director General of NYSC, Brig-Gen Nnamdi Okore-Affia in Abuja, the NYSC authority also directed those posted to some volatile states in the North such as Bauchi, Gombe, Plateau, Kano and Kaduna, but have not yet reported to the camp to immediately report to the NYSC Directorate Headquarters, Abuja for redeployment.

Okore-Affia maintained that corps members in Yobe and Borno states would undertake their induction activities in Nasarawa and Benue respectively on Thursday, July 26-Thursday, August 16, 2012, as earlier published.

According to the statement, "Yobe State prospective corps members will now hold their orientation course at the Nasarawa State NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp, Keffi, Keffi LGA, and not as stated on their call-up letters.

"Borno State prospective corps members will undertake their orientation programme at the Benue State NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp at Wanume, Tarka LGA, and not as stated on their call-up letters. Date: Thursday 26th July-Thursday 16th August, 2012, as earlier published.

"In addition, all 2012 Batch 'B' prospective corps members deployed to Bauchi, Gombe, Plateau, Kano and Kaduna states who have collected their call-up letters but are yet to report in camp should immediately report at the NYSC Directorate Headquarters, Abuja for redeployment."

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/07/n...latile-states/

At last common sense is prevailing. They think they can sacrifice other people's children to Boko Haram madness. Nonesense and ingredient

[First-lady]

YeS
The complaint is getting through some thick skulls,thank God



In

deference to the mounting safety concerns raised by parents, state governments and several sections of the public, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has redeployed prospective corps members (CMs) previously posted to "volatile states" in the North.

Parents and several stakeholders, including the House of Representatives, have kicked vehemently against posting CMs to states that have been prone to severe security threats.
Prospective CMs, who were posted to Bauchi, Gombe, Plateau, Kano and Kaduna States and are yet to report to their camps, have now been directed to report immediately to the NYSC Directorate headquarters in Abuja for redeployment. CMs posted to Yobe and Borno States would also now carry out their orientation exercise at the NYSC camps in Nasarawa and Benue States respectively.

In a statement signed by NYSC's Director General, Brig. Gen. Nnamdi Okore-Affia, the NYSC reminded Yobe and Borno CMs that their orientation dates remain July 26, 2012 and August 16, 2012 as earlier announced. Although the statement did not clarify if the CMs would go back to Yobe and Borno for their primary assignments after the orientation exercise,
THISDAY gathered that it would be unlikely as this would generate another national uproar.

"Yobe State prospective corps members will now hold their orientation course at the Nasarawa State NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp, Keffi, Keffi LGA, and not as stated in their call-up letters. Borno State prospective corps members will undertake their orientation programme at the Benue State NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp at Wanume, Tarka LGA, and not as stated in their call-up letters," the statement said.

Wednesday, across the country, the theme of most addresses by state governments to CMs shifted noticeably from the ethos of national unity and cohesion to the issue of safety for corps members. The NYSC scheme, which was established to promote national integration after the civil war, first came under fire after the post-election violence claimed the lives of the famous Bauchi-11 in April 2011. Prior to the election, several other corps members employed as ad hoc staff by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), were also killed in places like Suleja, Niger State, as well as in Jos, Plateau State when they got caught in a religious crisis.

Since then, the fierce and relentless attacks by Boko Haram and other violent groups have claimed the lives of many corps members, leading to calls from many quarters for the scrapping of the scheme. Earlier in the week, the NYSC had directed the corps members to proceed to their states of deployment, including the troubled parts of the country. But this generated a lot of criticisms from parents and other stakeholders.

Many corps members refused outright to go, saying their security cannot be guaranteed in those states where many other Nigerians are fleeing. The NYSC then issued a statement assuring them of their security in those states, but the CMs were clearly not convinced.

However, in Kano State, the authorities have increased the number of soldiers that should guard the NYSC camp, by deploying scores of security personnel comprising soldiers, the police as well as other operatives to the NYSC camp at Kusalla in Karaye Local Government Area as part of efforts to provide safety for the 2,500 corps members deployed in the state.

About 50 soldiers, policemen, Civil Defence Corps members and local security operatives known as vigilante group have been deployed in the camp to protect the corps members. The state coordinator of the scheme, Alhaji Bashir Yakasai, warned the new corps members to desist from granting interview to journalists on any issue relating to religion and politics.

Speaking during the swearing-in ceremony of the 'Batch-B of the corps members, Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, represented by the state Deputy Governor, Dr. Umar Ganduje, said government would do everything possible to ensure the safety of the corps members during the three weeks orientation exercise and afterwards in the various communities they may find themselves.

But while Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State Wednesday reminisced on the primary objectives of the scheme, which is to promote unity, his Ogun State counterpart, Senator Ibikunle Amnosun, decided that the security concerns in the country call for intensified martial arts training for corps members so they can defend themselves at critical times.

The Ogun State Coordinator of NYSC, Mrs. Theresa Anosike, explained that the 2,000 corps members (comprising 999 males and 1001 females) would be trained in martial arts to equip them with self-defence skills in addition to the normal para-military drills and physical training during the three-week orientation programme. She stressed that the training is meant to "instill discipline in them, toughen their resistance, and imbue in them Spartan-like resilience that will prepare them for whatever challenges they may encounter, during and after their service period."

Amosun, however, assured the new corps members of their security, stressing that "Ogun State is a haven of peace and security."

On his part, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State charged the 2,426 (1,355 male and 1,071 female) corps members in his state to be security conscious throughout their service year in the state. The governor urged them to be potent instruments in checking the menace of terrorism in the country, adding that this was the only way by which they could save the country from the international embarrassment caused the nation by the terrorists.

According to him, security should be seen as the primary responsibility of every citizen, adding that the corps members should continue to work harmoniously with the security agencies to rid the country of terror attacks. "You are all aware of the security challenge which is gradually turning the nation into a terrorist nation before the international community. I charge you to see yourself as instruments to check the menace. Be security conscious at all times," he said.

The NYSC State Coordinator, Mr. Tunde Baba-Ahmed, hinted that NYSC, in its determination to strengthen national unity, had arranged its platoons and hostels in a way that would allow corps members of different cultural, ethnic, religious and social backgrounds to interact freely.

In Enugu, the issue of safety of corps members also dominated the speech of Governor Sullivan Chime, who tasked the security agencies in the state to provide adequate cover for the corps members wherever they may be posted in the state. This was reinforced by the NYSC Coordinator in the state, Hillary Nasamu, who assured the corps members that the agency had put measures in place to guarantee the safety of over 2,500 corps members posted to the state.

Chime said the measures he ha put in place were meant to demonstrate the high premium which the government places on the safety of the corps members. He urged them to strive towards achieving the NYSC objective of national integration despite the security challenges currently facing the country.


http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/...states/119377/

No corpers should be mandated to serve in the north except Abuja
Period!
Let those who want to go there do so willingly with their parent's consent.
They can deploy all the army in Nigeria to the NYSC camps,will the army live with them in the towns and villages of their primary assignment?
Will they follow them to the market?
Are the bombs not blowing up security men with civilians
A whole police headquarters was bombed to ashes and someone thinks a bunch of hungry looking soldiers with dane guns will scare a determined killer with virgins beckoning
Corpers stand out as a sore thumb and these children should be made targets of bombings and senseless killings
This is the time to act not after there are dead bodies .

But while Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State Wednesday reminisced on the primary objectives of the scheme, which is to promote unity, his Ogun State counterpart, Senator Ibikunle Amnosun, decided that the security concerns in the country call for intensified martial arts training for corps members so they can defend themselves at critical times.

ROFL
Martial arts against bombs and guns
This Amosun guy is quite a character
isn't this the same governor that is building an aironditioned pedestrian bridge for his state

[agensheku]

YeS
The complaint is getting through some thick skulls,thank God



In
No corpers should be mandated to serve in the north except Abuja
Period!
Let those who want to go there do so willingly with their parent's consent.
They can deploy all the army in Nigeria to the NYSC camps,will the army live with them in the towns and villages of their primary assignment?
Will they follow them to the market?
Are the bombs not blowing up security men with civilians
A whole police headquarters was bombed to ashes and someone thinks a bunch of hungry looking soldiers with dane guns will scare a determined killer with virgins beckoning
Corpers stand out as a sore thumb and these children should be made targets of bombings and senseless killings
This is the time to act not after there are dead bodies .



ROFL
Martial arts against bombs and guns
This Amosun guy is quite a character
isn't this the same governor that is building an aironditioned pedestrian bridge for his state

I hear the man is a chartered accountant...he probably thinks karate is like calculator wey dem dey take add and subtract. Before you say "Hia!", bomb don scatter everything!

Even Abuja self, no be foreign airlines don dey say make planes no sleep there at night; while American Embassy keeps warning its people to keep indoors?!

[denker]

You're free to go, NYSC DG tells corps members


Brig-Gen. Nnamdi Okorie-Affia

National Youth Corps members posted to Kaduna have been handed something that must feel like a get-out-of-jail-free-card as the Director-General of NYSC, Brig-Gen. Nnamdi Okorie-Affia, has directed officials of the NYSC in Kaduna State to release corps members wishing to relocate from the state.
Okorie-Affia's message was delivered on his behalf yesterday by Mrs. Victoria Ango, the Kaduna State co-ordinator of NYSC, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) report.

In the statement, he said the NYSC is ready to release corps members who may wish to relocate to any state of their choice other than their state of origin for various reasons.
He added that due to the fear expressed by many of the 2012 Batch 'B' corps members, the director-general recently undertook a tour of some of the crisis-prone states in the North to assure them of their safety.

He, however, debunked rumours of mass relocation of corps members from Kaduna State, saying over 2,489 youths were sworn in for the service in the state on Wednesday.

http://www.ynaija.com/youre-free-to-...corps-members/

[denker]

"A statement by the Director-General of the NYSC, Brig.-General Nnamdi Okore-Affia, in Abuja on Wednesday, directed corps members posted to Bauchi, Gombe, Plateau, Kano and Kaduna states to immediately report to the NYSC headquarters for redeployment. This came barely 24 hours after an earlier insistence by the NYSC that corps members posted to the affected areas must first report to camp before requests for redeployment could be considered.
"Okore-Affia has also directed all those deployed in Yobe and Borno states to report to new orientation camps in Nasarawa and Benue states respectively."

Text of statement:

This is to inform all prospective corps members deployed to Yobe and Borno states for the 2012 Batch 'B' Orientation Course to note the following: "Yobe State prospective corps members will now hold their orientation course at the Nasarawa State NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp, Keffi, Keffi LGA, and not as stated on their call-up letters. "Borno State prospective corps members will undertake their orientation programme at the Benue State NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp at Wanume, Tarka LGA, and not as stated on their call-up letters. "Date: Thursday 26th July-Thursday 16th August, 2012, as earlier published.

In addition, all 2012 Batch 'B' prospective corps members deployed to Bauchi, Gombe, Plateau, Kano and Kaduna states who have collected their call-up letters but are yet to report in camp should immediately report at the NYSC Directorate Headquarters, Abuja for redeployment.

http://www.ynaija.com/at-last-nysc-b...bled-states-2/

[agensheku]

The title of this thread is so apt and concise! A government in denial insists on making "sacrificial lambs" of other peoples children but when reality hits them in the face, they recant. Was it not just last week that Information minister, Labaran Maku was swearing that all corpers were safe nationwide?

If a Senator could be summarily murdered, who is safe again?

[blissfully]

PUNCH EDITORIAL


http://www.punchng.com/editorial/pos...roubled-areas/



Posting NYSC members to troubled areas
July 10, 2012 by Punch Editorial Board 5 Comments

WHENEVER there is a posting crisis of the magnitude witnessed last week by the National Youth Service Corps, the question of the continued relevance of the scheme, at least in its present form, is bound to arise. Many are of the view that the scheme, founded by the Yakubu Gowon administration 39 years ago, has outlived its usefulness and should either be proscribed or substantially reviewed to reflect the current realities in Nigeria.

After last year's post-election violence in the northern parts of the country that saw NYSC members being deliberately targeted by hoodlums and political thugs, no one could have thought that the NYSC authorities would contemplate sending innocent Nigerian youths back to such places when conditions there have further deteriorated. Yet, the NYSC decided to post 14,850 defenceless corps members to places not better than a war zone.

The fear of these young Nigerians and their parents is genuine and understandable. These are the same places where President Goodluck Jonathan revealed during his recent media chat that he could not visit "for obvious reasons." States such as Borno, Kano, Yobe, Kaduna and Bauchi, among some others, have come under incessant attacks by Boko Haram, the Islamist terrorists seeking to foist the Islamic system of government, Sharia, on entire Northern Nigeria. Plateau State has also been smouldering in the kiln of ethnic and sectarian violence for years. Over 1,000 people, by conservative estimates, have been reportedly killed in those places in the last 18 months by members of the group, known to be affiliates of such internationally acknowledged terror groups as al-Qaeda and el-Shabaab. Boko Haram's operations have grown in both scope and sophistication while its capacity to inflict damage through suicide bombing and sheer fire power has been proved over and over again.

The threat has been such that the Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, declared two months ago that the entire northern parts of the country faced the dire prospect if something urgent was not done to check the rampaging terrorists. Many of the politicians and top government officials from these states have relocated to safer places in Abuja and Lagos. Aside from terror threats, these same states have had a history of attacking and killing corps members who, by the nature of their assignments, are on national duty and are supposed to be given maximum protection. A very good example is the killing of Grace Ushang in Maiduguri, Borno State, for allegedly wearing trousers, which is consistent with the approved mode of dressing for youth corps members.

It is against this grim backdrop that the NYSC, under the leadership of its Director-General, Brig.-Gen. Nnamdi Okore-Affia, decided to sentence the corps members to glaring danger through their posting to the troubled states. The Federal Executive Council also displayed a high sense of callousness by supporting the posting. Following events of last year, where, in Bauchi State alone, 11 corps members were reportedly killed, many of the NYSC scheme participants who could find their way out of the North did so on their own while, in some cases, state governments waded in by hiring buses and aircraft to ferry their indigenes out of the danger zone. Curiously, some states are promising security for the corps members. Is it the same security agents that have failed miserably to defend themselves against Boko Haram that will defend the corps members? Where were they when corps members were killed in large numbers last year?

Contrary to what is happening now, the NYSC was established to, among other things, support "the proper encouragement and development of common ties among the youths of Nigeria and the promotion of national unity." Fresh graduates were encouraged to marry from other ethnic groups as a way of fostering national unity and breaking down cultural and ethnic barriers. Unfortunately, instead of promoting national ties, the NYSC has become the graveyard of many young Nigerian graduates.

Apart from those killed during riots, there have also been reports of isolated and unwarranted killings of NYSC members. More than anything else, religious fanaticism in a section of the country has further widened cultural gaps among Nigerians.

Why then deploy young Nigerians to places where their safety cannot be assured or their liberty guaranteed? If at all the NYSC Scheme must continue to exist, then it should be reviewed so that people would be allowed to choose their places of service based on their sense of security and religious/cultural convictions. Any form of unity that is to be attained at the expense of the lives of young Nigerians, who, in real terms, are the future of the nation, is not worth pursuing.

Though the thoughtless NYSC has decided to review some of the postings, what is required is the total overhauling of the scheme. In the meanwhile, parents and guardians must continue to resist any effort to post their children and wards to places where their safety cannot be guaranteed. In the face of palpable danger to their lives, citizens have the moral right to disregard an offending policy that puts their lives at risk. If parents fold their arms and allow these innocent Nigerians to be taken to where they will not return alive, they will also take responsibility for whatever fate befalls them

[roforofo]

NYSC, in 2012 Nigeria is certainly not compulsory. More so, in the North.

It would be the stupidiest thing on earth for a southern graduate to head over to Boko Haram territory. End. of.

[blissfully]

NYSC: Then, Now and Henceforth

10 Jul 2012

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/...eforth/119691/

0101-Chidi-Amuta-backpage x.jpg - 0101-Chidi-Amuta-backpage x.jpg

Engagements By Chidi Amuta.

In a foiled state, institutions established to reaffirm national solidity and integration can at best be caricatures or at worst monuments of collective self -delusion. This looks like the present plight of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

The NYSC has returned to the front page of national news. In the wake of election-related crises and bloodletting a year ago, the service was for a long time the object of concern on account of the magnitude of fatalities it recorded in the post election gale of violence in some parts of the country. Now the context has shifted slightly. Some states have gradually slipped into structural anarchy on account of Boko Haram and related terrorist upheaval. The question has arisen as to whether the NYSC can operate in these zones of an undeclared war.

Understandably most Nigerians are hesitant and indeed opposed to having young graduates posted to these increasingly dangerous places for the NYSC scheme. It ought to concern us that somehow the NYSC has become a veritable barometer for measuring the degree of security in different parts of the country. When corps members can be posted anywhere in the nation and complete their service peacefully, then the nation is at peace. The converse is tragically true, which is where we are right now.

Perhaps the most important challenge that the current atmosphere of general insecurity has raised is a re-assessment of the continued relevance of the NYSC scheme and the kind of reform it urgently needs if it is to remain a relevant feature of our national life.

At the time of its inception, the state of the Nigerian nation was different. The NYSC scheme was one of the various structural mechanisms designed to psychologically re-unite the country after a bloody and fractious civil war. There was a consensus then that all Nigerians, especially the youth and highly educated, needed to be made to feel at home in all parts of the country.

More importantly, lateral inequalities in the availability of needed manpower dictated that some federal initiative be undertaken to send teachers, doctors, engineers and social workers to the places where they were mostly needed. The original NYSC was at best a misguided affirmative action decreed into place by a military that was still conscious of its mission as a national integration force. It was marketed as a national unity scheme. Those of us who served in the first sets of the scheme felt welcome in the faraway places where we went to serve.

We were respected, utilised and, in many cases, encouraged to take up employment in the states where we served. In some cases, some corps members found in their places of posting new relationships, new challenges and new places that they could perhaps call 'home'. We were also protected. Then we were a post-conflict nation united by the fear of our violent immediate past and eager to face the challenges and reap the rewards of rebuilding the nation. That was then.

Now, we are in a very different place. Our priority has shifted from national integration and unity towards a crisis of governance and plain simple mismanagement of public expectations. The danger posed by bad governance is today far greater than any threat to national unity. By far the greater threats to Nigeria's future include epic incompetence, the domination of the public services and strategic institutions by expired, incompetent and very corrupt people. Worse still, this arm of the elite has organised itself into cabals for the protection of clique interests and huge portions of national wealth. An NYSC scheme that was originally designed to forge cosmetic unity is functionally useless in today's circumstances.

Even judged by the specific reasons for which it was established, the verdict on the necessity of the NYSC is arguably damning. As I e-mailed my friend and brother, Eddie Iroh, the other day in the context of a raging THISDAY Editorial Board online debate, the NYSC has united nothing. Nor has it created any more patriotic citizens. Unity and patriotism require more fundamental variables than periodically shuffling young people to places they would rather not go to on a starvation stipend. Every adult Nigerian knows one thing for certain: he or she is a Nigerian.

Regrettably, there has developed in recent years a misalignment between the manpower need assessment of states and the number of youth corps personnel posted to them. The sight of NYSC personnel roaming from one establishment to the other begging to be allowed to serve is now common in some states. If the NYSC was designed to ease pressure on the job market with a one year delay in effective demand for jobs, that too has failed. There are no jobs out there. With or without the NYSC, 95 per cent of our graduates output in a year cannot find jobs.

In an increasingly dangerous national space, preferential posting is the sensible thing for parents to opt for. Wanting your ward to serve in a safe place is enlightened self interest. Those who insist that their wards be posted to safe places are not less patriotic than those who have left the fate of their wards in the hands of the NYSC only to be greeted with returning coffins a few months into the scheme.

Basically, then, the NYSC scheme in its original format has become dysfunctional. What is required is a fundamental re-thinking of the scheme to bring it in line with the changed manpower need profile of the nation.

In this regard, distinct possibilities present themselves for immediate exploitation. Firstly, our skilled manpower requirements are no longer strictly geographically defined. They are more sectoral as far as the public services are concerned.

For instance, the general educational profile of our armed forces requires upgrading if we are to attain combat competitiveness in a world where technological advantage determines the outcome of wars. Our police force, for instance, requires similar manpower upgrading in a situation where crime prevention now requires that law enforcement stay several steps ahead of the smartest bad guys in terms of intelligence. Our immigration services need more psychologists just as our narcotics interception effort requires more forensic experts. Other deficiencies requiring more enlightened intervention abound.

States and services that really require corps members should formally requisition for them and be ready to enter written undertakings to protect and meaningfully engage these personnel. Increasing insecurity in the land dictates that states take out substantial insurance coverage for corps members they request. A minimum cover for death or permanent disability should not be less than N25 million.

The other approach is to use the NYSC scheme to gradually replace our present decadent military and security apparatus through a progressive national compulsory two-year military service for all NYSC recruits. Nigeria is full of citizens but in dare need of patriots. History has shown that the easiest way of creating patriots out of citizens is by getting them to sign up to bear arms in defence of the fatherland. We need a security force with a reasonably high level of educational base line to compete in today's world.

NYSC graduands from this scheme should be incrementally used to replace an equivalent number of the multitude of near illiterates currently dominating the armed services. Those disengaged can be retrained for civilian life in appropriate roles. You cannot aim to become G-20 when your security forces are medieval.

A re-conceptualised and re-structured NYSC will necessitate a massive educational reform to upgrade the abysmal quality of the graduates that the system is currently spewing out.

Tags: Backpage, Featured, NYSC, Chidi Amuta

[Enyi]

The topical necessity for a national discourse on NYSC cannot be overemphasized. The concept of NYSC ab initio was laudable, as it afforded graduates the opportunity to live in environment different from theirs. I believe that this in a way promoted better understanding amongst the various ethnic groups. I often laugh when I listen to those who have not stepped beyond their ethnic boundaries make pronouncements on others. Most often, their misguided views are molded by hearsays and baseless innuendos. NYSC was an opportunity to correct such.
Unfortunately, NYSC was abused over the years. Many states posted corpers, regardless of their discipline, to teach in secondary schools. This was done for several reasons-
1) It was seen as a cheap way of running schools
2) Some states claim they are protecting private sector jobs for their indigenes
3) In some states, this was the area with most opportunity.
Irrespective of the motive, this practice contributed, in no small measure, to the decline in the standard of education.
The introduction of Sharia and BH activity have opened up an entirely new vista. Should corpers have a choice as to where they should serve? IMO, the answer is yes. People should be free to choose an area where they believe they can live in relative safety and freedom guaranteed in the Constitution. This may seem an anathema to the spirit of NYSC. But then, is it morally justified to post somebody to an area where the nation cannot guarantee the safety of lives and property? Is it morally justified to post corpers to states that Mr. President cannot visit? After all, NYSC is supposed to be service, and not slavery, to the fatherland.

[valteena]

FG overrules NYSC on postings to troubled states


Federal Government has overruled the National Youth Service Corps on the redeployment of corps members from troubled states.

Minister of Youth Development, Alhaji Inuwa Abdulkadir, said this at a news conference in Abuja on Tuesday. Abdulkadir insisted that corps members would be posted to Borno, Yobe and other troubled states.

His positing supersedes an earlier concession granted to the affected corps members by the Director-General of the NYSC, Brig.-General Nnamdi Okore-Affia.

The DG, had in a statement on July 5 directed corps members posted to Yobe to proceed to Nasarawa State, while those scheduled to have their orientation in Borno were directed to Benue State.

The minister argued that the issue of posting of corps members to states other than their states of origin was enshrined in the relevant laws establishing the scheme.

Abdulkadir said any other form of concessional posting of corps members apart from the grounds of health and marriage would require constitutional amendment.

On the resolution passed by the House of Representatives, he said the position of the ministry remained the position of the law.

The House had in a resolution said the NYSC should halt posting of corps members to troubled states.

The minister said, "Talking about the National Assembly's resolution vis-a vis our position here. My position is that of the law.

"The fundamental thing is that the NYSC is a constitutional issue; the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which is supreme.

"Of course, the NYSC initially was established through a military decree in 1973 because of its potential to the existence of Nigeria as a nation.

"And in pursuance of a deliberate policy to set up something that will always and continue to integrate Nigerians and bring about harmony amongst Nigerians, among other things, the framers of the 1979 Constitution deemed it fit to make the NYSC law part of the constitution.

" So if you are going to make any amendment to the NYSC or alter anything, you have to alter the constitution. That is the position.

"In that regard, posting of corps members to states, apart from their own, except in some special circumstances, is governed by the law and must be adhered to."

He recalled that many Nigerians died during the civil war.

The minister stated, "Don't forget that a number of people went to the civil war. A number of Nigerians went to the war front they were killed they left families.

"There are people who up till now who for no fault of theirs because by circumstances they were born during the period of the war they were not armed they got incapacitated. They have disabilities and they are living with those disabilities because of the war. This is a sacrifice to the nation."

He criticised the protest by some corps members in Abuja, saying at the time of the protest the protesters, who wore NYSC uniform, had not registered.

Abdulkadir said, "How did they even get uniforms to wear? If they are really mobilised to go and serve where did they get the corpers' uniform to come and assemble before the office of the NYSC to say they are protesting that they want to go or will not go."

http://www.punchng.com/news/fg-overr...oubled-states/

So the deliberate killing of corps members and the extreme insecurity in those states is not special enough a circumstance to redeploy these corpers to safer climes.

I can't believe a minister is callously dismissing the fears of corpers and every one in the country the way he has done, and comparing the tragedy that befell them and could befall them again, including death, with those injured and killed during the civil war. If this is not the height of insensitivity I don't know what is.

Btw is he invariably declaring that Nigeria is at war? If so then our corpers cannot be made the sacrificial armies of war. Let them deploy the right army to fight their war, that is the army's job and what they're to paid to do.

Where are the lawyers in the house to help break down the new constitutional element he has thrown into the mix. Is it really as constitutional as he claims that even the House of Reps's resolution cannot over turn the organisation's deployment.?

[agensheku]

Nigeria: Boko Haram Bombs Borno NYSC Camp - Thousands Flee - Three Killed As Fresh Bombs Rock Maiduguri
By Ahmed Mari, 13 July 2011

Maiduguri — There was pandemonium yesterday in the National Youth Service Commission (NYSC) camp on Biu road Maiduguri, Borno State, as a bomb suspected to be planted by Islamic radical sect, Boko Haram exploded.

Scores were said to have been injured though there was no official confirmation.

A corps member who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said soldiers took over the camp immediately and ordered corpers to stay indoors.

The bomb reportedly went off at 9:27pm.

This was as some southern states have concluded arrangement to evacuate their indigenes from Borno State, as attacks by radical Islamic sect, Boko Haram, continued yesterday.

However, government pleaded with residents not to flee assuring that adequate measures have been put in place to ensure that safety.

Daily Champion gathered that the decision of some of the states is to save the loss of lives and property of their indigenes.
Relevant Links

In Anambra, Governor Peter Obi said his government would begin the evacuation of indigenes of the state from the troubled city. Last week, Abia State had warned that it will evacuate its citizens if the attacks continue.

Obi said the state is now set to commence evacuation of Anambra Indigenes from crises prone areas. He said this yesterday while speaking with State House Correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Obi who is Deputy Chairman of the Governors Forum, said the decision became necessary to save citizens from being killed in the cross fire between members of the Joint Task Force (JTF) and the Boko Haram.

"The option is to begin the evacuation of Anambra indigenes from Maiduguri, Borno State if the bombings in the state continue".

He said he was taking the option because he was not prepared to see any son or daughter of Anambra to be harmed in any part of the country from crisis.

He described the actions of the Boko Haram sect which has resulted in killings of innocent Nigerians in parts of the country, as unacceptable and must be tackled.

He said members of the sect have no justifiable reasons for their actions, noting that there was no need for some group of people to make the country very inhabitable to citizens. "This is the only country that we have as our own; we have no place to go".

Meanwhile, two soldiers were injured in the attack on Baga road, Maiduguri Metropolitan Council (MMC) while operatives of the Joint Task Force (JTF) the allegedly shot dead three members of the Boko Haram sect who attacked the military vehicle.

Confirming the attack, the spokesman of the JTF Colonel Victor Ebheleme said the bomb was thrown at the patrol vehicle of the soldiers, while on a routine duty in the area, injuring two soldiers.

He said the soldiers engaged the sect members in a gun duel killing three of them, while others who fled and were pursued with a view to arresting them and bringing them to book.

Another bomb blast occurred when a NEMA vehicle matched on a bomb buried in pot hole on the same Baga road but no injury was reported yet.

Meanwhile, people in their thousands are relocating from Maiduguri to their villages and other neighboring states they consider safe, as the city has been turned into war zone were business and social activities have come to a stand still.

When our correspondent visited some motor parks in the metropolis, thousands of people including students of the University of Maiduguri which was closed on Monday were seen boarding vehicles going outside the state.

It could be recalled that the management of University of Maiduguri, on Monday due to what it described as security threat to both the institution and the students.

Speaking to our correspondent, a student of the institution, Ibrahim Idris said they received the news of the closure with mixed feelings because students can no longer settle and read peacefully, as gunshots and bombing were the order of the day around the institution, but also regretted that the school calendar will be distorted due to the closure.

Borno State government described the security situation in the state as unfortunate but that the security measures put in place is aimed at curtailing the incessant bombings and killings of security agents and other innocent citizens.

The Borno state government and JTF assured the public not to panic or migrate from their houses as adequate measures have been put in place by the government to ensure public security.

In a press release signed by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Ambassador Baba Ahmed Jidda the state government said it is not unmindful of the hardship being experienced by the public as a result of the recent ban on commercial motorcycle operators. However, government will soon distribute tri-cycles and buses as palliative measures to ease the current hardship.

Late on Monday, a bomb rocked Madalla, the FCT's border with Niger State.

SOURCEAILY CHAMPION

NOTE: This was nearly one year ago and the situation continues to deteriorate. Maybe , they should suspend the NYSC for now. Agens

[Enyi]

So the deliberate killing of corps members and the extreme insecurity in those states is special enough a circumstance to redeploy these corpers to safer climes.

I can't believe a minister is callously dismissing the fears of corpers and every one in the country the way he has done, and comparing the tragedy that befell them and could befall them again, including death, with those injured and killed during the civil war. If this is not the height of insensitivity I don't know what is.

Btw is he invariably declaring that Nigeria is at war? If so then our corpers cannot be made the sacrificial armies of war. Let them deploy the right army to fight their war, that is the army's job and what they're to paid to do.

Where are the lawyers in the house to help break down the new constitutional element he has thrown into the mix. Is it really as constitutional as he claims that even the House of Reps's resolution cannot over turn the organisation's deployment.?

The Minister is not just callous, but he is also ignorant and dumb.

Minister of Youth Development, Alhaji Inuwa Abdulkadir, said this at a news conference in Abuja on Tuesday. Abdulkadir insisted that corps members would be posted to Borno, Yobe and other troubled states.
The minister argued that the issue of posting of corps members to states other than their states of origin was enshrined in the relevant laws establishing the scheme.

How on earth can somebody who does not understand the Constitution be a Minister? Yes, Abdulkadir, if I may paraphrase Sherlock Holmes-elementary, Abdulkadir, elementary! The corpers are NOT demanding to serve in their states of origin. In plain English, they are demanding not to be sent to a WAR ZONE. In other words, they are willing to serve outside their states of origin, but not in the high risk states. How is this against the Constitution? It is pertinent to observe that even Mr. President is not willing to visit some states because of security concerns. These corpers are not trained combatants. They are also not equipped to deal with the security threats. What is the purpose, Mr. Minister, of sending them to these states? We do not need any more crocodile tears and condolences. As I have suggested earlier, NANS, Labor organizations and Civil Liberty Movements should rise up in support of these corpers. We must put a stop to gambling with other people's lives with impunity. BTW, the Minister should show example by relocating to any of the states in question.

[Enyi]

Minister under fire over corps members' posting

Minister-of-Youth-Development-Alhaji-Inuwa-Abdulkadir.jpg
Minister of Youth Development, Alhaji Inuwa Abdulkadir (Source: www.latestnaija.com)

Prominent Nigerians and groups, including the Trade Union Congress, on Thursday criticised the Minister of Youth Development, Alhaji Inuwa Abdulkadir, for insisting that National Youth Service Corps members must be posted to states under attack by Boko Haram.
The President-General of the TUC, Mr. Peter Esele, described the minister's statement as shocking and irresponsible.
He stated, "The reason why we have NYSC is for national integration. What we have now is different from that. The challenges that the corps members are facing threaten their lives."
Esele faulted the minister's comparison of military personnel with the NYSC members.
He said, "As military personnel, it is their calling to be posted for security duties because they signed for it and they are prepared.
"That is not the situation with the corps members. What the corps members are doing is not what they want to do. If you ask them, none of them would agree to be posted to those places.
"I am shocked that the minister made such a statement. It is so sad and shocking. Instead of looking at the failure of the state to protect lives and property, he (the minister) is saying corps members should agree to serve anywhere they are posted to."
Also, the National Publicity Secretary of the Congress for Progressive Change, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, described the minister's statement as highly insensitive.
He said the minister's statement was disingenuous and uncharitable.
Fashakin stated, "The CPC is averse to the efforts of the Federal Government in stemming the tide of insecurity in the land.
"The usual rhetoric of 'we are on top of the situation' is no longer acceptable when Nigerians now sleep with palpable shambolic fear for their lives and property.
"It is insensitive to compare service men to corps members. What had been done by this government as compensation for families of the corps members that were harmed in the past?
"Can the minister give a list of his children and close relatives that would be deployed in these theatres of insurrection as corps members before asking the same of other Nigerians? If he is not capable of doing this, he should consider his statement as very disingenuous and uncharitable."
The spokesperson for the Ijaw Republican Assembly, Ankio Briggs, said that the people in charge of affairs of the country had no clue to what was happening.
She stated, "Clearly, it shows that this minister has no clue at all. If he has, he will not be saying such a thing. As a parent, I believe that the NYSC has no value for the Nigerian youth and the country. Tell me, what is the value?
"On a personal note, my children would not go and serve in the North. They are sending other people's children to go and die, these corps members they are sending to the North, are they soldiers? Did they sign to go and die?
"The minister has no business being a minister. In fact, I am calling for the scrapping of the NYSC. If the NYSC is not scrapped, then people should go and serve in their own zones where we know that they will be safe.
"We are talking about corps members who were trained by their parents and guardians and not by the Federal Government."
A former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Abubakar Tsav, warned the Federal Government against any move to endanger young graduates in the country by sending them to trouble spots.
He stated that the presence of soldiers of peacekeeping mission in Jos and other parts of the North had not prevented the recurrent killings in the North.
The former commissioner stated that even armed policemen took to their heels during the violence in Jos.
He said, "Soldiers have been on peacekeeping operations in the North, but still they kill people. These young people just left school and they want to cut short their lives. They should try and beef up security before posting them there.
"In Jos, there were policemen and they ran away, why didn't soldiers go there to protect them? So, that minister does not know what he is talking about."
Also, a former member of the House of Representatives and former governorship candidate of the ACN, Mr. Uche Onyeagucha, challenged the minister to lead by example by sending his children to the troubled areas and even relocating his office to either Yobe or Borno.
He challenged the minister to sign an undertaking that he would be held responsible for the death of any corps member on posting to crisis-ridden spots in the country.
He said that it was inconceivable for any corps member to be posted to the troubled states, even when security operatives and policemen on posting to the areas were lobbying to get out of there because they were scared. According to him, some of them would have bought themselves out of the North if not for a standing instruction by the IG that all transfers out of the troubled areas must be brought to his attention. He said the minister's statement was regrettable and unfortunate as the President himself had admitted openly in a recent media chat that he could not fly to Maiduguri because of the security situation.
He urged corps members to refuse postings to such trouble spots.
"It is simple; it is not as if this thing is mandatory, if you are posted to a state you don't like, the thing is for you to reject it, and you repeat the service, and you will be posted to another state. The most reasonable thing is to reject it if you are posted to such areas.
"As I am talking to you, there are several military officers, who are posted to Borno, Yobe, Kano and Kaduna, who are lobbying to get out of those states.
"There is hardly any police officer, who is not working hard to get out. This means that the riot policemen who are armed are scared, why then should anybody post any corps member to those areas?" Onyeagucha asked.
However, the Arewa Consultative Forum would not embark on an outright dismissal of the minister's comment, saying he was right in some way.
The Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Anthony Sani, said that assignments such as the NYSC were national sacrifices expected from Nigerians.
He said, "In a way, the minister is right because such assignments are sacrifices Nigerians are expected to make for the country.
"However, we must not lose sight of the Hausa adage which says, 'Idan Yaro na kiwuya, baba na rowa,' meaning if the child refuses to go on an errand, it means the father refuses to be generous to the child."
Source: www.punchng.com

This is a good beginning. However, we should go beyond condemnation. There is an urgent need for a positive action to achieve a reversal of this nonsense. Gambling with the lives of other people's children must be resisted. It is amazing that the minister displayed such an abysmal lack of understanding of the Constitution.
BTW, it seems that either Anthony Sani of ACF is simply playing the devil's advocate or he is living in a fool's paradise.

[blissfully]

So the deliberate killing of corps members and the extreme insecurity in those states is not special enough a circumstance to redeploy these corpers to safer climes.

I can't believe a minister is callously dismissing the fears of corpers and every one in the country the way he has done, and comparing the tragedy that befell them and could befall them again, including death, with those injured and killed during the civil war. If this is not the height of insensitivity I don't know what is.

Btw is he invariably declaring that Nigeria is at war? If so then our corpers cannot be made the sacrificial armies of war. Let them deploy the right army to fight their war, that is the army's job and what they're to paid to do.

Where are the lawyers in the house to help break down the new constitutional element he has thrown into the mix. Is it really as constitutional as he claims that even the House of Reps's resolution cannot over turn the organisation's deployment.?

Valtee, you are decorating the so-called minister with the level of intelligence that he may not achieve even if he lives for the next 1000years. I am sure he doesnt know anything about the constitution. I doubt if he knows what they call fundamental human rights.

How will he know. He is just a cow with acute mad cow disease. Believe me most of them are like that. They are just uncivilized brutes who have refused to leave their ethnic enclaves in both their thinking and actions. All it takes is to relate with them, no matter the level of the so-called education that they got from Maiduguri or Zaria to realise that these people are brutes.
Can you see the tongue in cheek response of their umbrella body - the ACF. They think only about their tribes and usually dont see beyond that

It is a calamity when you come across these cows. They lack finesse and civilization. They are rude and they steal government money a lot. they usually think of stealing and the growth of their harem. I have never seen such people before in my life. And they hide under religion to perpetrate fraud and other actions that their religion clearly forbids. The other time it was one old man marrying a 13year old. And when they disagree with you or you disagree with them the next thing on their mind is to kill, maim and destroy. This minister is one of the representatives from the clan of these uncivilized brutes with mad cow syndrome.

[blissfully]

So the deliberate killing of corps members and the extreme insecurity in those states is not special enough a circumstance to redeploy these corpers to safer climes.

I can't believe a minister is callously dismissing the fears of corpers and every one in the country the way he has done, and comparing the tragedy that befell them and could befall them again, including death, with those injured and killed during the civil war. If this is not the height of insensitivity I don't know what is.

Btw is he invariably declaring that Nigeria is at war? If so then our corpers cannot be made the sacrificial armies of war. Let them deploy the right army to fight their war, that is the army's job and what they're to paid to do.

Where are the lawyers in the house to help break down the new constitutional element he has thrown into the mix. Is it really as constitutional as he claims that even the House of Reps's resolution cannot over turn the organisation's deployment.?

Valtee, you are decorating the so-called minister with the level of intelligence that he may not achieve even if he lives for the next 1000years. I am sure he doesnt know anything about the constitution. I doubt if he knows what they call fundamental human rights.

How will he know. He is just a cow with acute mad cow disease. Believe me most of them are like that. They are just uncivilized brutes who have refused to leave their ethnic enclaves in both their thinking and actions. All it takes is to relate with them, no matter the level of the so-called education that they got from Maiduguri or Zaria to realise that these people are brutes.
Can you see the tongue in cheek response of their umbrella body - the ACF. They think only about their tribes and usually dont see beyond that

It is a calamity when you come across these cows. They lack finesse and civilization. They are rude and they steal government money a lot. they usually think of stealing and the growth of their harem. I have never seen such people before in my life. And they hide under religion to perpetrate fraud and other actions that their religion clearly forbids. The other time it was one old man marrying a 13year old. And when they disagree with you or you disagree with them the next thing on their mind is to kill, maim and destroy. This minister is one of the representatives from the clan of these uncivilized brutes with mad cow syndrome.

[blissfully]

So the deliberate killing of corps members and the extreme insecurity in those states is not special enough a circumstance to redeploy these corpers to safer climes.

I can't believe a minister is callously dismissing the fears of corpers and every one in the country the way he has done, and comparing the tragedy that befell them and could befall them again, including death, with those injured and killed during the civil war. If this is not the height of insensitivity I don't know what is.

Btw is he invariably declaring that Nigeria is at war? If so then our corpers cannot be made the sacrificial armies of war. Let them deploy the right army to fight their war, that is the army's job and what they're to paid to do.

Where are the lawyers in the house to help break down the new constitutional element he has thrown into the mix. Is it really as constitutional as he claims that even the House of Reps's resolution cannot over turn the organisation's deployment.?

Valtee, you are decorating the so-called minister with the level of intelligence that he may not achieve even if he lives for the next 1000years. I am sure he doesnt know anything about the constitution. I doubt if he knows what they call fundamental human rights.

How will he know. He is just a cow with acute mad cow disease. Believe me most of them are like that. They are just uncivilized brutes who have refused to leave their ethnic enclaves in both their thinking and actions. All it takes is to relate with them, no matter the level of the so-called education that they got from Maiduguri or Zaria to realise that these people are brutes.
Can you see the tongue in cheek response of their umbrella body - the ACF. They think only about their tribes and usually dont see beyond that

It is a calamity when you come across these cows. They lack finesse and civilization. They are rude and they steal government money a lot. they usually think of stealing and the growth of their harem. I have never seen such people before in my life. And they hide under religion to perpetrate fraud and other actions that their religion clearly forbids. The other time it was one old man marrying a 13year old. And when they disagree with you or you disagree with them the next thing on their mind is to kill, maim and destroy. This minister is one of the representatives from the clan of these uncivilized brutes with mad cow syndrome.


Valtee, you are decorating the so-called minister with the level of intelligence that he may not achieve even if he lives for the next 1000years. I am sure he doesnt know anything about the constitution. I doubt if he knows what they call fundamental human rights.

How will he know. He is just a cow with acute mad cow disease. Believe me most of them are like that. They are just uncivilized brutes who have refused to leave their ethnic enclaves in both their thinking and actions. All it takes is to relate with them, no matter the level of the so-called education that they got from Maiduguri or Zaria to realise that these people are brutes.
Can you see the tongue in cheek response of their umbrella body - the ACF. They think only about their tribes and usually dont see beyond that

It is a calamity when you come across these cows. They lack finesse and civilization. They are rude and they steal government money a lot. they usually think of stealing and the growth of their harem. I have never seen such people before in my life. And they hide under religion to perpetrate fraud and other actions that their religion clearly forbids. The other time it was one old man marrying a 13year old. And when they disagree with you or you disagree with them the next thing on their mind is to kill, maim and destroy. This minister is one of the representatives from the clan of these uncivilized brutes with mad cow syndrome.