Corps members deployed in
Lagos State may have to endure the pain of inadequate space until the
state government builds a new camp for the scheme, SEGUN OLUGBILE reports
The challenge of inadequate space in the
National Youth Service Corps Orientation Camp in Lagos State is far
from being over. Rather than abate, facilities at the orientation camp
located on a property belonging to the state Ministry of Youths and
Sports at Iyana-Ipaja area of Lagos, are daily being overstretched. The
‘‘temporary orientation camp’’ that could conveniently accommodate about
2,000 corps members now house 3, 392 corps members posted to the state
for the 2012 Batch C of the scheme.
Consequently, officials
of the NYSC in Lagos are always working to ensure that the camp is
habitable each time corps members are mobilised to the state. Also,
those posted to the state always have had to endure the pains of
inadequate space that most often reminded some of them that attended
public institutions of the squatting syndrome while on campus. Though
the Lagos State Government had about 20 years ago designated some
hectares of land for the camp’s permanent site at Igando, a Lagos
suburb, nothing was done until land grabbers started encroaching on the
land.
This was further
compounded by the decision of the original land owners to push for the
recovery of the land since it was not being used for the purpose for
which it was acquired by the government. It was also learnt that the
land owners and some land grabbers had started selling the land to
interested citizens and corporate bodies. This has become a source of
litigation between the government and the land owners. This was
responsible for the state government’s decision to relocate the
permanent site to Imota, a town close to Ikorodu.
Though the State
Commissioner for Special Duties, Mr. Wale Hammed, was not available to
comment on this, a top official in the ministry who pleaded anonymity
because he was not permitted to speak to the press confirmed this.
According to the source, the state government reached this decision last
year because of the outcome of the court case.
“The Lagos State
Government is just being proactive and you know that Governor Babatunde
Fashola has respect for the rule of law; so, it was decided when Chief
Tola Kasali was the commissioner supervising the NYSC that an
alternative land should be provided for the NYSC camp so that whatever
the outcome of the case might be, the scheme would not suffer,’’ the
official said.
Kasali had told the
press while speaking during a ministerial briefing last year that, even
if the state government won the case on the proposed camp at Igando, the
site would not be useful anymore for NYSC camp.”
According to him, an
NYSC camp ought not to be within the city, recalling that the state
government acquired the Igando camp in 1982.
“The state government
then fenced the site for planned development but the litigation by land
owners (Omo-onile) in the area had foiled our plan,” he had said.
But a year after this,
the Lagos State Government has not done anything that could show that
the new orientation camp would soon become a reality.
Consequently, corps
members deployed in the state for the Batch C of the 2012 scheme are the
ones bearing the brunt of the inadequate space. The corps members in
camp are complaining in hushed tones. Though they are not allowed to
speak to the press on any issue except they had the official permission,
some of them who spoke with our correspondent on the condition of
anonymity said that living in the camp had been a challenge.
“The place is stuffy.
The space is just inadequate to cater for all of us. The officials are
trying to make the place enjoyable but having to cope with stuffy rooms
remain a challenge,” one of the corps members said.
Another corps member,
who blamed the state government for the challenge the corps members were
facing, urged the governor to expedite action on the new site so that
those coming behind them could have a befitting orientation camp.
“I cannot blame the NYSC
for this because by law it is the responsibility of the state
government to provide orientation camp. So I will not expect the NYSC to
build the camp. It is the duty of the state government and some of them
(state governments) have performed this duty very well. Some of my
colleagues who are serving in states such as Osun for instance told me
that their camp is huge and adequate. Lagos State should emulate these
states,” he said.
Another female corps
members blamed her colleagues particularly males for the sanitary
situation in the hostels, saying her stay in the camp had been
difficult.
“I’m not complaining but
they (NYSC officials) should know that we are not soldiers, they should
treat us like civilians that we are,” she said.
Though the Lagos NYSC
Coordinator, Mrs. Adenike Adeyemi, did not want to speak with the PUNCH
because of an earlier publication done on the state of accommodation on
the camp by our sister publication, Sunday Punch, she eventually did
after insistence by our correspondent.
She said that the agency did all its best to ensure that corps members had a nice time.
“While I’m not
contending that the Lagos NYSC requires a more spacious orientation
camp, I will never agree that the present accommodation is dirty,
cramped and planks are used to give a semblance of windows. The camp
officials and corps members on a daily rotational basis jointly clean,
maintain and administer the camp a practical training for corps members
on dignity of labour and team work. We also employ the Lagos State Waste
Management Agency to evacuate the dirt we generate on a daily basis.’’
Adeyemi said that in
spite of the limited space at the camp, corps members, officials of the
NYSC and soldiers on duty always make do with the available space.
“Corps members should be
reminded that an orientation camp is not a home or hotel where you
enjoy maximum comfort. So, we should not expect maximum comfort. All of
us including me sleep at the camp during the three weeks orientation.
However, I want to state that the Lagos NYSC camp is not as bad and as
dirty as you want us to believe.
“I sleep there and we
ensure that water, electricity, quality food and hygienic environment
are provided. We have five bore holes, standby power generators and
LAWMA people always come to camp for the whole of the three weeks to
evacuate the dirt generated by all of us.
“I’m a mother and I
cannot expose these youths to anything that we endanger their lives.
That is why I take it upon myself to ensure that they eat well and have
the best comfort available. But a corps member should not expect
officials of the camp to spread his or her bed, arrange his or her room
or come and flush the toilet for him or her after use, that is
irresponsibility and it should not be promoted,” she said.
Adeyemi, however, urged corps members to serve the country with discipline, honesty and transparency.
She added that the NYSC
would not spare any efforts at ensuring that corps members were exposed
to skills that would enhance their marketability, creativity and ability
to create jobs for themselves.
“That is why we organised a lot of workshop, and seminars for them on entrepreneurial studies,” she said.
Adeyemi, however,
thanked the Lagos State Government for the support the NYSC had been
enjoying. She specifically thanked Fashola for the regular
rehabilitation of the NYSC camp at Iyana-Ipaja. “Let me use this
opportunity to once again plead with him (Fashola) to please expedite
action on the new orientation camp site project,” she added.
But how soon will the
Lagos State Government fulfil its promise to build a new camp for the
NYSC in the state? Only time will tell.
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