?The plight of Corps members in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is finally receiving some attention, the new director general of the National Youth Service scheme announced recently. BLESSING UKEMENA examines the impact of this promise.
It is truly a serious matter. Corps members have been grappling with the problem of accommodation in the federal capital territory for a long time. It is either a corps member lived in the federal capital before youth service posting or he has relations living within the city, or he resorts to squatting with friends. To say that the price of housing is exorbitant is putting it mildly. It is a total rip- off. Corps member serving within the FCT have to find accommodation in the suburbs of the city such as Lugbe, Kubwa, Maraba and other such places.
The result of this is that corps member have to use up a large portion of their allowances to pay the transportation fare to and from the city. Although the allowance of corps members have been increased, any corps member in the FCT will tell you that it has no economic advantage because the cost of living in the FCT is ‘just too high’.
The new director general of the youth service scheme, Brigadier General Nnamdi Okore-Affia, speaking to journalists on Monday said that “the responsibility of providing accommodation for corps members is that of the employer and when they fail to do so, we would consider them as unfriendly”. This he said in the wake of the resultant hardship experienced by corps members especially in the FCT. Imagine that the rate for a self contain- room (en suit), within the federal capital, which include places like Gwarimpa, Kado Estate, Asokoro and Wuse, goes for as much as N400,000, which is more than the total sum of a corps members allowance for the one year period. This is not including transportation and feeding expenses. Ifeanyi Mbah, a corps member serving in the federal ministry of finance says that “I have been living with my friend’s family at Maraba since I started my service.
They are very nice people but I know it is a burden. Then the transport cost from there to where I serve is another issue. If the new directive is implemented, I won’t have to be a burden anymore”. Philip Ogbemudia, another corps member serving at the same ministry says “It is a welcome development, at least when it is effected, most of us corps members will not have to worry about accommodation anymore”. Funke Gbade, serving at the Nigerian Customs, says that “FCT corpers are truly suffering, how can you pay accommodation costing about N300,000 and above when your total allowance for the year is not up to that amount. How is such a person meant to feed, transport and take care of other personal needs?” She queried.
Charity Odeh is one of the few fortunate corpers that live in Gwarimpa with her parents, she was not really enthusiastic about the announcement, “Well it is a good thing for corpers who need accommodation because I have some friends who are corpers, I know that they go through a lot in terms of transportation. I stay with my parents which is a good thing as I do not have to worry about feeding too”. Nuhu Ahmed is not so sure about the development, “It depends on if the organisations will comply with the directive. We know this is Nigeria where laws are seldom obeyed. So except they put in place strict measures to effect this directive then it is just another pipe dream. We know how long it took them to effect the increase in our ‘allowee’. I will advice that all corpers should not build their hopes unnecessarily because they may end up being disappointed”.? Nuhu is one of the many corps member-skeptics about the effectiveness of the directive made by the new DG.?
Effective action on the part of the NYSC and the federal government is necessary to ensure that this directive is actualized. This will be a big relief for corps members coming in from other states of the federation. So many corps members redeployed to the FCT thinking it was going to be like a piece of heaven, only to discover that they were better off in the other states. Oscar, a batch B corps member had to live within the orientation camp in Kubwa, two weeks after the posting letters were distributed because he did not have accommodation. He was one of many who went through the same experience. He was posted to the FCT from Enugu state University and on arrival, he did not know anyone living in the FCT.
He? is still seeking for a place to serve because he was rejected at the NNPC where he was originally posted to serve and he is not finding the situation funny at all. A corps member who lives in Kubwa, like Raliat, says she spends about N500 daily on transportation. That amounts to 10,000? per month. By the time she includes feeding and other unexpected expenses, she barely has enough to save at the end of the month.
This is an every day worry for the majority of corps members serving in the FCT, it is only a few fortunate ones that can afford to live on their own in the city center. These are most likely foreign candidates of the scheme and children of politicians and law makers. Thus like so many other systems in this country, the NYSC scheme still has a lot of loop holes to cover up.
The issue of redeployment is another that the new DG needs to look into. Much is left to be seen if the new DG will live up to expectations. This first step to ensuring accommodation for corps members is a good thing and it is hoped that this will be the very beginning of good things in store for the corps members of this nation and not just another promised fantasy to make the government look good. Most senior civil servant and security agencies have accommodation provided for them by the government. The national youth service scheme is a way of engaging the youths in service to their fatherland, thus making them federal employees even when some of them serve in private institutions. This is not to compare the youth corps members to civil servants and security agencies but it will be laudable if the new director general of the NYSC backs up his words with action.