Emmanuel Onwubiko
The current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has secured for itself an unforgettable legacy so much so that long after the government reaches its zenith in 2023, the remarkable effort made by the government through the management headed by Major General Suleiman Kazaure will remain evergreen. That it took just three years to cement the legacies of reforms and transformational changes in the administration of the scheme could only have happened because the President took his time to make a choice of a General who is credible, effective and efficient as a manager and also someone who believes in team work.
The scheme no doubt has an illustrious status in the annals of Nigeria, but the refocusing of the entire scheme towards self employment through acquisitions of vocational skills that have started yielding dividends of phenomenal scale is what sets apart the current management of NYSC from the rest. A history of NYSC will therefore have a rich volume of accomplishments of the current management team.
Specifically, the National Youth Service Corps was established 45 years ago by the government of General Yakubu Gowon with the core mandate to promote the unity and integration of a very diverse country almost torn apart by three years of bitter and destructive civil war. In over four decades of operation, 17 helmsmen including the incumbent have superintended over the affairs of the service Corps. Each of them in their own peculiar way has proved their mettle in the discharge of their responsibilities. The present head, Major General Suleiman Kazaure assumed office on 18th April, 2016 as the 17th chief executive of the Scheme.
While in position of leadership some leaders tend to push beyond the limits, explore new horizons to attain greater heights of achievement by evolving policies that shift the paradigm of administration. Major General Suleiman Kazaure, I believe, is cast in this mould. A humble unassuming officer and gentleman, he was busy, quietly playing his part in building, stabilizing and sustaining the security architecture of the nation as the Commandant, Nigerian Army Language Institute, Ovim in Abia State when his acclaimed anonymity was broken with a call to duty at another front, the National Youth Service Corps.
General Suleiman Kazaure, at the dawn of his stewardship outlined four focal areas to drive his administration on the path of realizing the noble objectives of the Scheme. These include, consolidating the achievements of previous administrations and breaking new grounds, motivating the staff through enhancement of welfare provisions, improving the welfare and security of corps members and expanding the Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) progamme through establishment of more skill centres and greater stakeholder involvement for skill and material support.
Kazaure’s unique leadership disposition and attributes is evident in the articulation and implementation of the agenda of his administration. He has in the past three years demonstrated these in his strong will, determination and commitment to refocus the NYSC Scheme to play the expected pivotal role in fostering national unity and development as enunciated by the founding fathers.
After a thorough evaluation of the Scheme, Kazaure, who came to the office with an impressive academic credentials and wealth of experience, went to work to tackle the myriad of challenges bedeviling the Scheme. These include poor facilities at NYSC Orientation Camps nationwide, security of Corps members and Staff especially in parts of the country facing security challenges, backlog of prospective corps members yet to be mobilised for service due to paucity of funds and limited capacity of NYSC Camps, amongst others.
In view of the fact that the law that established NYSC placed the responsibility of providing and maintaining Orientation camp facilities under the purview of State governments, Kazaure embarked on advocacy visits to State Governors appealing to them to upgrade facilities in their Orientation Camps. The intensive improvement of facilities in NYSC Orientation Camps across the country in the past three years, sign posts the benefits of these visits. Virtually all Orientation Camps but a few across the Country are operating in Permanent Camps with improved facilities.
While engaging State governments to discharge their statutory responsibilities to the Scheme, Kazaure, through collaborations with relevant MDAs, launched an intervention programme to address infrastructural deficits in the Scheme. Consequently, Zamfara, Enugu, Ondo and many other States that were experiencing perennial water scarcity were provided boreholes while Kano, Kwara, Bayelsa, Benue and Rivers States got power generators for their Orientation Camps. Delta, Bauchi, Niger, Nasarawa, Osun, Kogi and other States have also benefitted from the provision of water tankers, double bunk beds, mattresses, renovation of accommodation facilities and other infrastructural projects.
In addition, ambulances, utility vehicles and motor bikes have also been procured and distributed to State Secretariats of NYSC to aid effective supervision and monitoring of Corps members.
In the area of providing welfare needs of Corps members, General Kazaure has been outstanding. As a result of the security challenges in some parts of the country, the NYSC Director General pursued a vigorous interface with security agencies, State Governments, traditional institutions, and other stakeholders for the effective protection of Corps members. This resulted in the safety of Corps Members being placed in the priority list of Security Agencies all over the country and subsequently led to resumption of NYSC Orientation exercises in Yobe, Adamawa and Gombe States that were hitherto severely plagued by security issues.
The NYSC Distress Call Centre has equally been transformed to an information centre under Kazaure’s regime to meet current challenges. The Centre which was established in 2012 and domiciled in the National Directorate Headquarters of the Scheme, is equipped with communication facilities that are manned 24 hours daily to ensure timely and well-coordinated response to calls from corps members who find themselves in distressed situations. With the upgrade, the information centre now with five operational lines in addition to responding to distress calls from corps members, staff and members of the public, now also provide information on the operations of the Scheme to the corps participants and other stakeholders.
To further enhance the welfare of Corps members, the Management of the Scheme under the watch of General Kazaure is collaborating with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to provide free health services to Corps members. The transport subsidy to corps members as well as the fund appropriated for their feeding at the Orientation Camp has equally been enhanced under Kazaure’s reign.
As earlier mentioned, one of the major challenges of the NYSC on his assumption of office was the backlog of prospective corps members waiting to be mobilized to participate in the Scheme due to scarcity of funds. Through an ingenious interface with government, this has been effectively dealt with as the backlog of graduates have been mobilised and deployed for service leading to the stabilisation of the mobilisation calendar of the Scheme. In fact, in 2018 alone the Scheme executed seven Orientation Courses with over 300,000 Corps Members mobilised to serve in the Scheme’s service year Batches of ‘A’ ‘B’ and ‘C’.
It is on record that General Kazaure has further consolidated and expanded the deployment of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the operations of the Scheme. He ensured the nationwide implementation of biometric system of pay-rolling Corps members for their monthly allowance and Community Development Service attendance to check truancy among them. Collaborations with JAMB and WAEC in the Scheme’s mobilization process are unmistakable evidences of the success stories of the current administration in this area.
Onwubiko is Head of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA)