Brig-General S.Ibrahim inspecting a guard of honour by corps members
The activities of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) were relatively unknown by many ordinary Nigerians until a renowned academic and an ccomplished soldier was appointed to lead and direct its activities on May 10, 2019. Since then he has been writing history.
The accomplished military officer and 18th DG of NYSC, does not illuminate the NYSC activities only because of his military training, but because he is an erudite scholar and Associate Professor of History. Like historians, he understands the working and place of history in office as regards leadership position in the service of fatherland.
By this, he goes about his normal activities without grandstanding. His extraordinary patriotism creates a niche for him in the annals of public service.
Nigerian youths and students are thankful for this rare soldier and scholar who came to the scene at a period that there were growing calls by some Nigerians with genuine or pretended concern bordering on insecurity of graduate youths to discontinue the NYSC scheme.
Some Nigerians waited to see Yakubu Gowon House crumble to ruins. But the shrewd Nasarawa-state-born military officer and scholar was able to weather the storm; not by speeches but action.
As the storm raged, he went to work. He worked silently, like if his traducers did not exist. At the end, he displayed to his compatriots what he was doing and they marvelled with awe. The debate on the NYSC’s relevance or otherwise in the National Assembly died naturally even after it had passed through second reading.
Through Ibrahim’s shrewd leadership, prominent Nigerians quickly threw their weight behind NYSC. The Nigerian students, the target group of the scheme, say it is either National Service or nothing. The youths say, for NYSC, some of them would not have aspired to higher education.
“The NYSC khaki uniform and jungle boot inspired me to go to the university. My principal told me that I cannot join the NYSC like military and para-military outfits. That I must pass through higher school and get a degree or HND,” Chukwudi Wagba, a corps member in Nasarawa state said.
Before the call to head NYSC, General Ibrahim had a stint with Army University, Biu, Borno state, where he served as the university’s registrar. However, with the short stay in Biu, the General’s impact remains visibly indelible.
The NYSC DG, digressing from the system that forgets its heroes, paid the ailing 74-year old NYSC Anthem composer, Dr Oluwole Adeniran, a visit to his house in Ibafo, Obafemi-Owode local government area of Ogun state this year.
Brig-General Ibrahim saluting NYSC Anthem composer Adeniran (left).
The septuagenarian who composed the NYSC anthem in 1984, overwhelmed by emotion, said, “I am finally remembered 35 years after composing the NYSC Anthem.
“I thank God for opening a book of remembrance concerning me for my labour of love.”
General Ibrahim only learnt of this senior citizen on social media and followed it up, to show that the labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain as stated in the National Anthem.
“I decided to follow up on the phone number that was dropped on the social media, made my investigations and decided to come here from Abuja for visit.
“This visit is partly to encourage our corps members that when you serve and honour your country, then your country will not forget you,” the professor of History said.
Dr Adeniran had been suffering from hypertension, diabetes and prostate cancer before General Ibrahim assumed office in 2019.
Mrs Ramotu Suleiman and the young Shuaibu in hospital
Also, a corps member, Ramotu Suleiman, and her husband named their baby born in Bayelsa camp during the Batch B Stream II orientation course, ‘Shuaibu’, after General Shuaibu Ibrahim, who visited mother and baby in the hospital shortly after birth and ordered immediate redeployment of the nursing mother to Lagos to join her husband, on the ground of marriage.
Ibrahim, a professor of History knew that hero worshippers are themselves heroes. No wonder during the seminar on the NYSC Youth Trust Fund, the chairman, House Committee on Youth and Sports, Hon. Yemi Adaramodu described General Ibrahim as the most prolific and erudite DG in Nigeria.
Adaramodu stated this at the close of a three-day symposium themed, “Consolidating the Gains of the NYSC in Youth Empowerment and National Development in the Face of Current Economic Realities: The Imperatives of a Trust Fund,” which held in Abuja recently.
The lawmaker who said General Ibrahim is a prolific academic, committed to the progress of the scheme, said he would do all within his legislative power to ensure NYSC Trust Fund gets the legislative backing.
“General Ibrahim is the most formidable and erudite DG in Nigeria now and the National Assembly will continue to support him. The National Assembly will ensure that the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Scheme is kept afloat and well-rooted.
“The scheme is a pot that must not be broken as far as the unity of Nigeria is concerned.
“The scheme has continued to unite the country since when it was established after the civil war. The NYSC scheme always comes handy when we are talking about unity, national cohesion and integration,” Adaramodu said.
Nigeria must remember this hero for a higher national assignment because he has more to offer his country, as a man who loves challenges. We must tap from his potential for nationbuilding.
Uji, a journalist and commentator on national affairs, lives in Abuja.