Generals Buratai and Ibrahim, the duty and the moral
By Uji Abdullahi Iliyasu
While
enemies of the state strive to detract the leadership of a country by their
overzealousness in hypocrisy and mischief, there are some public servants who
are heroes of their times.
I am moved to write this piece because of the
number of eulogies that poured out for late Balarabe Musa, governor of the old
Kaduna state. Late Musa was impeached by his people and ridiculed for his
principles, but in death, they suddenly turned him to a hero. Eulogising
heroes in death is a disservice to humanity.
The
activities of two military officers in the Buhari government are worthy of
celebration. These officers are the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General
Tukur Yusuf Buratai and the Director-General of NYSC, Brig-General Shuaibu
Ibrahim.
The
nation grows if it gives recognition to those who deserve it while they are
alive.
Assuming office as Chief of Army
Staff in 2015, Lieutenant-General Tukur Yusuf Buratai halted the security threats
by Boko Haram insurgents in major cities and FCT, thus the climate of fear
created by the insurgents dispelled.
Before Buratai, there were
enervating roadblocks mounted on every important road and the traffic was at
snail speed in Nigerian cities. These soon gave way to normalcy.
Under Buratai,
military engineers began to manufacture military vehicles designed specifically
to withstand improvised explosive devices attacks and ambushes by insurgents.
“The vehicles have significantly improved our
capability to defeat our common adversary, Boko Haram and the Islamic State of
West Africa Province,’’ he said, through
the Commandant, NDA, Jamil Sarham, at the
inauguration of these military hardwares.
Earlier,
Nigeria Police Force Headquarters, United Nations House and Nyanya, all in FCT,
had witnessed horrors of death.
It
still baffles my imagination that some Nigerians, even highly placed, are
calling for the sack of the present Service Chiefs.
Buratai,
combining the call to duty and the moral, bought a befitting flat to an
85-year old Staff Sergeant Paul Ojo, who was evicted from his rented
house at Kabala Costain in Kaduna,
Another
officer worthy of mentioning is Director-General, NYSC, Brig-General Shuaibu
Ibrahim, an accomplished soldier and academic, who has carved a niche for
himself in the Nigeria project.
The
DG assumed office in May 2019 after a spell at the Nigerian Army University,
Biu, as a pioneer Registrar.
Having
gone through the gamut of the Scheme, he knows the problems and prospects of
Nigerian youths because he had served as Military Assistant (MA) in the past. Now, the incident of highly connected corps
members who decided where and how to serve is no more; corps members are now posted
to areas of national needs.
During one of his parleys with Vice Chancellors and
Rectors of Corps Producing Institutions (CPIs), General Ibrahim advised the
schoolheads to stop mobilising fake and unqualified graduates for national
service.
“We have observed cases of some suspected
connivance whereby some approved institutions help unapproved ones to mobilise
unqualified graduates. Despites a series of resolutions reached on this and
other related issues, some CPIs persistently upload names of unqualified and
non-eligible graduates for mobilisation…
“The Scheme will continue to sanction erring
institutions by blocking the mobilisation of their graduates for at least two
consecutive batches,” he said.
To
check age falsification like WAEC, NYSC now includes date of birth on the
certificate of national service and exemption letter.
In
view of realities of the present economic downturn, Ibrahim makes sure the
Skills Acquisition Centre of the NYSC, apart from being a training ground for
graduates, becomes a revenue-general organ for the scheme. Towards this goal, he established Mega Skills
Acquisition Centres in Ekiti and Gombe states for the Southwest and Northeast
geopolitical zones respectively through public-private partnership, promising
to establish similar facilities in the remaining zones in the first phase of
the programme.
These
centres and the raise in corps members’ allowance, all combine to bring out
unquestionable patriotism in the vibrant youths. The DG has also instituted
insurance cover for corps members.
To consolidate on the unity of Nigeria as
enshrined in the NYSC Act, General Ibrahim has also established the NYSC
cultural troupe. To give impetus to
cultural diffusion, NYSC has instituted NYSCWOOD, fashioned in the mode of
Nollywood or Kannywood, to provide education and entertainment.
As
if all this is not enough, General Ibrahim has received the green light from
relevant regulatory authorities to establish NYSC radio station to be run by
corps members.
Also
NYSC, under the non-nonsense Nasarawa state-born General, has been included as
one of the vetting agencies of government appointees.
Apart
from that, since March when the national lockdown began, the vibrant and
intelligent Nigerian graduates have been fighting against the dreaded COVID-19
pandemic by providing protective equipment in form of hand sanitisers, face
masks, ventilators and the like, which they generously donate to their host
communities.
The morale of Nigerian youths is raised by
Brig-General Ibrahim who personalises his relationship with corps members like
a father to a child.
Brig-General
Ibrahim makes sure that the security and welfare of corps members form the
focal point of his policy trust. To
corroborate this, he visited and condoled with the family of a corps member
serving with Channels TV, Precious Owolabi who was killed in 2019 in Abuja
during one of the violent clashes between Shiites and security agents.
“I am here on behalf of NYSC management, staff
and corps members to express our heartfelt condolences to you over the death of
Precious, our son. I was devastated when doctors told me we lost him.
“Although the sad event left us grieving, we are
consoled by the fact that he lost his life in the service of his fatherland.
“I, therefore, see him as a great hero whose story has become part of the
history of the NYSC scheme. I urge the family to take heart.”
In
December last year, the DG also visited the family of Nuradeen
Tahir
at Gwarzo,
Kano state, and donated to him artificial limbs. Tahir lost his arm in a road accident after
leaving orientation camp in Taraba state enroute Zaria.
In a similar vein, the DG visited
the family of another corps member, Abraham Amuta Abah, who was abducted by
Boko Haram insurgents earlier in Borno state and reassured his parents of his
rescue.
Now
parents feel comfortable because they know their children are in safe
hands.
“Security
and general welfare of corps members and staff are among the key areas of focus
of this administration, especially because corps members are given to us on
trust by the nation. “It is therefore, our responsibility to ensure their
wellbeing during orientation and the rest of the service year.”
What
less will Nigerians expect from an officer who has excelled in two very
important worlds: a Brigadier-General in the Army and an Associate Professor of
History.
General
Ibrahim’s fatherly posture with these agents of change deserves greater
recognition now that Nigeria is divided along ethnic and religious lines.