NYSC WAS AN IGBO IDEA – WE ARE NEVER THE PROBLEM, WE ARE THE SOLUTION
Today in history, September 30th, 1970. Exactly on this day, 56 years ago, on the eve of Nigeria’s first post-war independence anniversary, Igbo youths made history.
It was formed initially in 1970 by Professor T. Uzodinma Nwala, then a student leader at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. It was designed to promote community service, volunteerism, and reconstruction immediately following the devastation of the Nigerian Genocide War.
The program was subsequently adopted by the Administrator of the East Central State, Ukpabi Asika, expanding to involve over 3,000 youths deployed across all divisions of the state. It was called the East Central State Youth Volunteer Services Corps (ECSYVSC).
As Chairman of the ECSYVSC, Professor Nwala led the delegation of Igbo youths that submitted a historic memo to General Yakubu Gowon. That memo is what gave birth to what you know today as NYSC.
The objective was clear – to forge a genuine instrument of national reconciliation and national integration after the brutal civil war. We wanted to heal Nigeria even after Nigeria killed 3 million of us.
In response, General Gowon gave Dr. Ukpabi Asika’s Government £75,000 in appreciation of that historical initiative of the youth of Alaigbo. That was the price they placed on our brain.
But what happened to the NYSC? Any credit to the initiators? Several attempts have been made by NYSC Foundation in Abuja to interview Professor Nwala, the original mind that conceived the NYSC, but each time they were discouraged from a follow-up. They don’t want Nigerians to know that NYSC is an Igbo idea.
It was the same way a former Governor advised Federal Government to create an institution to house the Biafran scientists and their technology after the war. The answer was NO, because doing so would give credit to Biafrans.
They rejected our science, they rejected our technology, they rejected our brains, but they accepted our NYSC idea to build Nigeria.
This is the proof that IGBO, WE ARE NEVER THE PROBLEM WITH NIGERIA, BUT WE ARE THE SOLUTION. Nigeria’s problem is that they hate the solution because the solution is Igbo.
If not for Igbo ideas, what would Nigeria use to unite itself?
